What it is
The balance sheet shows, at a given date, what the hotel owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities) and what belongs to its owners (equity). Containn calculates it from every active póliza (journal entry) since operations began up to that date, and places each account by the first digit of its grouping code (código agrupador) from the SAT, Mexico's tax authority: 1 assets, 2 liabilities, 3 equity.
Income and expense accounts (codes 4 to 7) are not listed one by one: their accumulated balance rolls into the Resultado del ejercicio line (current-year result), which is added to equity. At the foot come Pasivo + capital (liabilities plus equity) and Activo (assets), and next to the title an indicator: Cuadra (balanced), or Descuadre de (out of balance by) with the difference.
Current-year result and retained earnings
Until you have closed a fiscal year, Resultado del ejercicio carries everything accumulated since the hotel started keeping its books in Containn: the balance sheet still balances, but equity is not split by year. When you close the fiscal year, the year's profit moves to the equity account your accountant flagged with the retained-earnings role; it appears as one more account under Capital contable (equity), and Resultado del ejercicio starts over with the following year.
When to use it
- At each month end, together with the income statement.
- Before you close the month, to confirm it balances.
- When the bank, a partner or an auditor asks for the hotel's position at a date.
Step by step
- Go to Containn → Estados financieros (financial statements). The balance sheet sits below the income statement.
- Choose Año (year) and Mes (month). The balance sheet is always as of the last day of that month; Periodo only changes the income statement.
- Check the indicator: Cuadra means assets equal liabilities plus equity.
- Read each category with its accounts and balances. An account that offsets its category, such as accumulated depreciation inside assets, shows with a negative sign.
- To trace a balance, open the account in the trial balance and from there its account ledger.
What can go wrong
- “Descuadre de…” (out of balance). It is almost always an account with activity whose grouping code does not start with a digit from 1 to 7: it falls into no category and its balance is left out. The screen points you to the chart of accounts, which is where you fix it.
- Cash or bank accounts are negative. The balance sheet only knows what is in pólizas. If the hotel came with balances from another system, they belong in an opening manual póliza.
- There is no Capital contable (equity) section. The base chart of accounts has no equity accounts. Your accountant adds them, including the retained-earnings account that the year-end close needs.
- An account in the wrong category. The category comes from the grouping code, not from the name: an expense account with an asset code is presented as an asset. Check its code.
The balance sheet is produced for the company that keeps the chart of accounts. There is no consolidated group balance sheet today.