How to Use the Command 'hledger balancesheet' (with Examples)

The hledger balancesheet command is a component of the powerful hledger toolset, designed for personal and small-business accounting. It generates a balance sheet that presents the end balances for asset and liability accounts in a manner consistent with traditional financial statements. This utility helps individuals and businesses maintain an accurate picture of their financial health over specific periods.

Use case 1: Show Current Balances in Asset and Liability Accounts, Excluding Zeros

Code:

hledger balancesheet

Motivation: This command is particularly useful for people who desire a quick overview of their financial position. By excluding accounts with zero balances, it simplifies the report, making it easier to focus on the accounts that currently hold value or obligations. This approach reduces clutter and highlights areas that might need further attention or analysis.

Explanation:

• hledger is the command-line tool used for plain text accounting.
• balancesheet is a subcommand that produces a balance sheet report.
• By not specifying additional flags or arguments, the command defaults to excluding accounts with zero balances, ensuring only active financial data is displayed for clarity.

Example Output:

Assets:
  Checking Account  $5,000
  Savings Account   $10,000 

Liabilities:
  Credit Card       $1,500

-------------------------------
Total Assets:       $15,000
Total Liabilities:  $1,500

Use case 2: Show Just the Liquid Assets (Cash Account Type)

Code:

hledger balancesheet type:C

Motivation: Liquid assets are critical for understanding short-term financial health, as they represent the cash or cash-equivalent resources readily available. Filtering results to only display cash helps individuals and businesses quickly assess their available resources for emergencies or immediate financial obligations.

Explanation:

• type:C filters the balance sheet to only show accounts classified as cash or cash-equivalent. This ensures the focus remains solely on liquid resources.

Example Output:

Assets:
  Cash on Hand    $2,000
  Checking Account $5,000

------------------------------
Total Liquid Assets: $7,000

Use case 3: Include Accounts with Zero Balances, and Show the Account Hierarchy

Code:

hledger balancesheet --empty --tree

Motivation: This usage ensures a comprehensive view of all account categories, including those with zero balances. This can be crucial for complete transparency and analysis, such as during audits or when attempting to diagnose changes in financial patterns. Displaying the account hierarchy provides context and structure, helping users understand how individual accounts contribute to the overall financial picture.

Explanation:

• --empty includes accounts that have zero balances, ensuring no data is overlooked.
• --tree displays accounts in a hierarchical format, demonstrating the structure and relationships between various accounts.

Example Output:

Assets:
  Cash:
    Cash on Hand    $0
    Checking Account $5,000
  Savings:
    Saving Account  $10,000

Liabilities:
  Credit Cards:
    Visa            $1,500

................................
Total Assets:       $15,000
Total Liabilities:  $1,500

Use case 4: Show the Balances at the End of Each Month

Code:

hledger balancesheet --monthly

Motivation: Observing financial trends on a monthly basis is crucial for ongoing financial management and forecasting. This visibility allows individuals and businesses to track financial growth, spending patterns, or the emergence of liabilities over time. Such insights can lead to proactive financial decision-making.

Explanation:

• --monthly generates a balance sheet for each month’s end, providing a snapshot of financial status through regular intervals, facilitating trend analysis.

Example Output:

January:
  Assets  $14,000
  Liabilities $2,000

February:
  Assets  $15,500
  Liabilities $1,800

.................................

Use case 5: Show the Balances’ Market Value in Home Currency at the End of Each Month

Code:

hledger balancesheet --monthly -V

Motivation: For individuals or businesses dealing in multiple currencies, observing the market values in the home currency is essential. This metric aids in assessing real-time value changes due to market fluctuations, enabling financial strategizing and informed investment decisions.

Explanation:

• -V converts balances to market value, ensuring that currency fluctuations are considered in the reports.
• --monthly helps track these changes on a monthly basis for detailed analysis.

Example Output:

January:
  Assets  $14,200
  Liabilities $2,100

February:
  Assets  $15,800
  Liabilities $1,900

.................................

Use case 6: Show Quarterly Balances, with Just the Top Two Levels of Account Hierarchy

Code:

hledger balancesheet --quarterly --tree --depth 2

Motivation: Quarterly reports help in analyzing medium-term financial performance and planning. Selecting only the top two levels of account hierarchy provides a streamlined summary that captures essential insights without overwhelming detail, ideal for high-level reviews and strategic meetings.

Explanation:

• --quarterly presents a balance sheet at the end of each quarter, a common financial reporting period.
• --tree visualizes the structure in a hierarchically organized format.
• --depth 2 limits the account hierarchy to two levels, focusing on primary categories.

Example Output:

Q1:
  Assets:
    Cash       $15,000
    Accounts   $3,000
   
  Liabilities:
    Credit Cards $2,500
    Loans        $5,000
  
................................

Use case 7: Short Form of the Above, and Generate HTML Output in bs.html

Code:

hledger bs -Qt -2 -o bs.html

Motivation: The need for efficiency in generating reports can lead to the use of shorthand notations in commands. Producing a report in HTML format facilitates sharing and integration into web-based platforms or presentations. It’s an effortless way to distribute and display financial data.

Explanation:

• bs is a shorthand command for balancesheet.
• -Q ensures quarterly reporting.
• -t creates a tree format of the report.
• -2 restricts hierarchy depth to two levels.
• -o bs.html specifies the output file as bs.html, making the data accessible as a web document.

Example Output: An HTML file named bs.html is generated, displaying a structured quarterly balance sheet in an accessible format for web usage.

Conclusion

The hledger balancesheet command offers versatile options for individuals and businesses to generate insightful financial reports. Understanding its various use cases enables users to customize outputs according to specific needs, whether for detailed analysis, market value consideration, or streamlined presentations. This flexibility empowers users to maintain accurate and actionable financial perspectives with ease.