Glossary / Balance Sheet
What is Balance Sheet?
A financial statement showing a nonprofit's assets, liabilities, and net assets at a specific point in time.
Simple definition
A financial statement showing a nonprofit's assets, liabilities, and net assets at a specific point in time. Also called the Statement of Financial Position under FASB standards.
Why it matters for your nonprofit
Boards, auditors, and funders expect clarity on Balance Sheet because it affects how you report resources, stay compliant, and explain your financial story.
How it shows up in daily work
You will see Balance Sheet in board packets, grant reports, and donor conversations. The goal is to record activity once and report it consistently—without rebuilding spreadsheets every month.
Common mistakes
- Treating restricted resources like general cash because the chart of accounts is not set up for funds.
- Letting finance and development use different definitions for the same funds.
- Waiting until year-end to fix coding errors that should be caught monthly.
How Alignmint helps
Alignmint ties fund accounting, donor records, and reporting in one place so terms like Balance Sheet show up correctly in your books—not only in a policy memo.
FAQ
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Questions about your books?
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