The assets side of the balance sheet shows what a business owns. Traditionally, they are listed in order of liquidity—that is, how easy it would be to turn them into cash. So let’s go down the asset categories one by one. First on the list comes cash and cash equivalents. This is real money. It includes what a company has in the bank. It also includes certificates of deposit (CDs) that mature in less than ninety days and shares in a money market fund.
