Closing balance

The closing balance sheet is the balance sheet that is drawn up after all business transactions have been booked in full and business transactions that do not affect the business period to be concluded have been entered.

Technically, the closing balance is often created with the help of a closing balance account. The balances of all inventory accounts, including the equity account, which contains the balances of the profit and loss account ( P&L ) and the private account , are closed on the closing balance account .

However, the closing balance and closing balance account are not necessarily identical. While the closing balance account may essentially be structured in a form-free manner according to operational and accounting aspects, the statutory form and structure requirements must be observed in the closing balance.

The (closing) balance sheet is an obligatory part of the annual financial statements and forms the basis for the opening balance sheet for the following accounting period. The principle of balance sheet identity also comes into play here.