Definition of Balance

The amount remaining due from one person to another on a settlement of the accounts involving their mutual dealings; the difference between the two sides (debit and credit) of an account. A balance is the conclusion or result of the debit and credit sides of an account. It implies mutual dealings, and the existence of debt and credit, without which there could be no balance. Loeb v. Keyes, 156 N. Y. 529, 51 N. E. 285; McWilliams v. Allan, 45 Mo. 574; Thillman v. Shadrick, 69 Md. 528, 16 Atl. 138. The term is also frequently used in the sense of residue or remainder; as when a wlll speaks of "the balance of my estate." Lopez v. Lopez, 23 S. C. 269; Brooks v. Brooks, 65 III. App. 331; Lynch v. Spicer, 53 W. Va. 426, 44 S. E. 255.
—Balance-sheet. When it is desired to ascertain the exact state of a merchant's business, or other commercial enterprise, at a given time, nil the ledger accounts are closed up to date and balances struck ; and these balances, when exhibited together on a single page, and so grouped and arranged as to close into each other and be summed up in one general result, constitute the "balance-sheet." Eyre v.' Harmon, 92 Cal. 580, 28 Pac. 779.