Balance sheet glossary terms for bookkeepers: AP, AR, bank reconciliation, current assets, current liabilities, equity, and cash account cleanup.
Balance sheet terms are where bookkeeping mistakes linger. An expense posted to the wrong account usually shows up in this month's P&L. A bad balance sheet account can sit for months until the tax preparer, lender, or owner asks why cash, AP, AR, or equity does not make sense.
Start with the working-capital pair: accounts payable and accounts receivable. AP is what the business owes vendors. AR is what customers owe the business. Both need aging review, not just a category label. Then check bank reconciliation, because the cash balance in QuickBooks has to tie to the statement before the rest of the balance sheet can be trusted.
This sub-hub groups the glossary terms bookkeepers use during monthly close: cash, receivables, payables, current vs long-term liabilities, fixed assets, accumulated depreciation, and equity. Growthy helps by proposing categories and confidence levels, but the bookkeeper still approves the balance sheet impact.
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Bank reconciliation matches your book balance to the bank statement balance, line by line. It's the single best fraud-detection tool a bookkeeper has, and the QBO Reconcile workflow takes about an hour a month when the books are clean.
Accounts receivable is the money customers owe you for invoices already sent but not yet collected. It's a current asset on the balance sheet, not revenue. Here's how AR moves through the QBO Invoice/Customer workflow.
Accounts payable is the running tally of bills you owe vendors but haven't paid yet. It sits on the balance sheet as a current liability, not on the P&L as an expense. Here's how the AP workflow actually moves through QBO.