El balance general, balance de situación o estado de situación patrimonial es un informe financiero contable que refleja la situación económica y financiera de una empresa en un momento determinado. El estado de situación financiera se estructura a través de tres conceptos patrimoniales, el activo, el pasivo y el patrimonio neto, desarrollados cada uno de ellos en grupos de cuentas que representan los diferentes elementos patrimoniales. El activo incluye todas aquellas cuentas que reflejan los valores de los que dispone la entidad. Todos los elementos del activo son susceptibles de traer dinero a la empresa en el futuro, bien sea mediante su uso, su venta o su cambio. Por el contrario, el pasivo: muestra todas las obligaciones ciertas del ente y las contingencias que deben registrarse. Estas obligaciones son, naturalmente, económicas: préstamos, compras con pago diferido, etc. El patrimonio neto puede calcularse como el activo menos el pasivo y representa los aportes de los propietarios o accionistas más los resultados no distribuidos. Del mismo modo, cuando se producen resultados negativos (pérdidas), harán disminuir el Patrimonio Neto. El patrimonio neto o capital contable muestra también la capacidad que tiene la empresa de autofinanciarse. La ecuación básica de la contabilidad relaciona estos tres conceptos: Patrimonio neto = Activo - Pasivo que dicho de manera sencilla es: Lo que se es = Lo que se tiene - Lo que se debe

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In financial accounting, a balance sheet or statement of financial position is a summary of the financial balances of an individual or organisation, whether it be a sole proprietorship, a business partnership, a corporation, Private limited company or other organization such as Government or not-for-profit entity. Assets, liabilities and ownership equity are listed as of a specific date, such as the end of its financial year. A balance sheet is often described as a "snapshot of a company's financial condition". Of the four basic financial statements, the balance sheet is the only statement which applies to a single point in time of a business' calendar year. A standard company balance sheet has three parts: assets, liabilities, and ownership equity. The main categories of assets are usually listed first, and typically in order of liquidity. Assets are followed by the liabilities. The difference between the assets and the liabilities is known as equity or the net assets or the net worth or capital of the company and according to the accounting equation, net worth must equal assets minus liabilities. Another way to look at the balance sheet equation is that total assets equals liabilities plus owner's equity. Looking at the equation in this way shows how assets were financed: either by borrowing money (liability) or by using the owner's money (owner's or shareholders' equity). Balance sheets are usually presented with assets in one section and liabilities and net worth in the other section with the two sections "balancing". A business operating entirely in cash can measure its profits by withdrawing the entire bank balance at the end of the period, plus any cash in hand. However, many businesses are not paid immediately; they build up inventories of goods and they acquire buildings and equipment. In other words: businesses have assets and so they cannot, even if they want to, immediately turn these into cash at the end of each period. Often, these businesses owe money to suppliers and to tax authorities, and the proprietors do not withdraw all their original capital and profits at the end of each period. In other words, businesses also have liabilities.

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