Balansføring

Balansføring is a term commonly used in Scandinavian accounting and financial management, particularly in Norway. It directly translates to "balance carrying" or "carrying forward a balance." In essence, it refers to the process of transferring the closing balance of an account from one accounting period to the opening balance of the next accounting period. This is a fundamental step in the accounting cycle, ensuring that financial records remain continuous and accurate from one year or reporting period to the next.

When a business closes its books for a fiscal year, the net result of the income statement (profit or loss) is typically carried forward to the balance sheet. Specifically, the profit or loss is added to or subtracted from the company's retained earnings, which is a component of equity on the balance sheet. Similarly, asset, liability, and equity accounts that are not closed out at the end of an accounting period will have their closing balances carried forward to become the opening balances for the new period. This allows for consistent tracking of a company's financial position over time. Balansføring is crucial for generating comparative financial statements and for performing financial analysis.