How to: Balance Sheet setup
Your base year Balance Sheet is entered in the onboarding wizard — fixed assets, working capital, equity and debt. The Balance Sheet page is where you set forward drivers: primarily capex (investments) and debt changes per forecast year. Everything else derives automatically from your wizard inputs and P&L.
Why the Balance Sheet matters (for cash)
In spreadsheets, cash flow often breaks because the Balance Sheet isn't modeled consistently. In X-ASTRiS, the Balance Sheet is the engine behind:
- – Forecast depreciation — calculated as depreciation % × fixed asset base (set in wizard)
- – Forecast interest — calculated as interest rate % × average debt (set in wizard)
- – Working capital mechanics — AR/AP/Inventory ratios derived from base year and projected forward
- – Cash as the closing plug that reconciles with the Cash Flow statement
What the wizard already set up
When you completed the onboarding wizard, you entered your base year Balance Sheet. X-ASTRiS derived the following automatically and they run forward from that point:
Forecast depreciation is calculated each year as the depreciation percentage applied to the prior year fixed asset base. You set this percentage once in the wizard.
Forecast interest is calculated each year as the interest rate applied to the average debt balance. Rate set once in wizard, debt balance updated per year in the Balance Sheet.
DSO, DPO and DIO ratios are derived from your base year receivables, payables and inventory. These ratios project working capital forward automatically with revenue and COGS.
Equity builds automatically each year: prior equity + net profit − dividends + equity contributions. You only enter dividends or capital injections if applicable.
What you enter on the Balance Sheet page
After the wizard, the main forward inputs on the Balance Sheet page are:
- 1. Investments (capex) — per forecast year
Enter planned capital expenditure per forecast year. This is the key manual input on the Balance Sheet page. Investments flow into the fixed asset base and cash flow from investing activities.
Fixed assets then calculate automatically as:
Fixed Assets (t) = Fixed Assets (t-1) + Investments (t) − Depreciation (t)
Also enter investments in the base year — this is needed so scenario charts can show the full picture including historical capex.
- 2. Debt — per year (if your debt schedule changes)
Enter long-term and short-term debt for each forecast year. If you have a repayment schedule or plan new financing, adjust the debt balance per year. X-ASTRiS calculates interest automatically from the debt balance and the interest rate set in the wizard.
- 3. Working capital ratios (optional — value creation plan)
By default, DSO, DPO, DIO and other working capital percentages project forward at their base year rates. If you have a value creation plan (e.g. improve collections, reduce inventory days), adjust the ratios per year. The working capital positions and cash flow update automatically.
- 4. Dividends and equity contributions (if applicable)
If you plan to pay dividends or inject equity in specific forecast years, enter these per year. They flow through to the equity roll-forward and financing cash flow.
Common mistakes
- – Forgetting base year investments
Enter investments in the base year too — otherwise scenario charts won't show the full historical picture.
- – Manually entering depreciation or interest in the P&L
Don't do this for forecast years — it breaks the three-statement consistency. Depreciation and interest are derived from the Balance Sheet automatically.
- – Expecting cash to "make it fit"
Cash is a calculated closing plug. If it doesn't look right, the fix is in the drivers — P&L, capex, working capital or debt — not in manually adjusting the cash line.
- – Using start-of-year values in the wizard
X-ASTRiS uses end-of-year convention throughout. All balance sheet positions are end-of-year values.
Once P&L and Balance Sheet are saved, check the Health & readiness score, then explore the Cash Flow statement, monthly runway view and dashboard ratios.
FAQ
No. Most items calculate automatically. The main things you enter per forecast year are capex, debt balances (if they change) and optionally working capital ratio adjustments.
These are set in the onboarding wizard (Balance Sheet step). You can re-run the wizard to update them, but note this resets any detailed models built on top of the base year.
Cash is the model's closing plug — it reconciles all balance sheet movements. If it differs from reality, the most common causes are: base year P&L figures are off, fixed assets don't match your asset register, or working capital positions are incorrect.
Increase the debt balance in the relevant forecast year. X-ASTRiS will calculate the additional interest cost and the cash inflow from financing automatically.