Steps to assess an interim balance sheet 043-03080050

For sole trader and partnership businesses, financial assets listed on the balance sheet are deemed:

• to belong to the customer and business partner (if there is a partnership business)
• are not part of the business

Financial assets include:

• bank accounts (except business working account)
• shares
• managed investments

If these financial assets are on the balance sheet make sure they are recorded on the appropriate screen:

• Savings Summary (SVS)
• Managed Investments Summary (MIS), or
• Securities and Investments Summary (SIS)

Private trusts and private companies are deemed to be separate entities from the beneficiaries and shareholders. Do not remove financial assets from their balance sheets. These are recorded on the individual entity record rather than the customer's.

Check the balance sheet for assets exempt from assessment. These are not included in the calculation of the value of the business, for example the principal home.

See Exempt assets.

Check the values on the balance sheet are the current market value of assets, particularly for real estate assets. If not, update to the current market value.

See Coding income and assets for Centrelink payments and services.

Check there is no double counting of assets. This can happen if assets are recorded as a personal asset of the customer and as an asset of the business, for example, motor vehicles.

Check that an excluded security has not been deducted from the value of assets owned by the business.

See Business liabilities.

Check if the liabilities have been secured over both exempt and assessable assets.

See Business liabilities.

Check for the combination of primary production assets and liabilities.

All assets used in primary production and all liabilities relating to primary production are combined, and the resulting amounts are offset as if they were one asset and one liability.

See Primary production aggregation.

For sole trader and partnership businesses, record updated asset amounts on the:

• Real Estate/Business Details (REBS) screen in Process Direct, or
• Real Estate/Business Summary (REBS) screen in Customer First/Customer Record

Use the correct date of event for business income and assets.

See Assessing and coding the Business details for sole traders and partnerships MOD F.