# Balances

Reference for the balance resource within a Twisp Ledger.

Source: https://www.twisp.com/docs/reference/ledger/balances

## The Basics

Balances are auto-calculated sums of the entries for a given account or account set, providing a snapshot a financial position. Balances play a crucial role in accounting, as they provide a snapshot of an account's value at any given time. In the Twisp system, accounts and balances are closely related.

Balances in Twisp...

- Are automatically calculated as entries are written
- Separate debit and credit balances maintained
- Are attached to a specific account, journal, and currency
- Roll up into normal balances based on account's normal balance type

## Components of a Balance Record

- **Account**: determines which account's entries the balance is computed with.
- **Entries**: list all the entries used to compute the balance. The most recent entry is also stored as a reference.
- **Journal**: is the journal from which entries are pulled to compute the balance. Each account's balance is calculated per journal.
- **Currency**: is the currency used by entries in the balance.
- **Balance Amounts** for each layer (SETTLED, PENDING, ENCUMBRANCE, and the dynamic AVAILABLE layer), which contain the sums for...
  - The **debit** balance of the account
  - The **credit** balance of the account
  - The **normal** balance, which is calculated difference between credits and debits (for credit-normal accounts) or between debits and credits (for debit-normal accounts).

Balance records also maintain `created`, `modified`, and `committed` timestamps as well as their [Versions And History](/docs/reference/ledger/versions-and-history).

## Point-in-time Balances

With [point-in-time queries](/docs/reference/ledger/versions-and-history#point-in-time-queries), balance `history` is filterable by timestamp. This provides the ability to retrieve the active balance at a specific time.

## Balance Operations

Use GraphQL queries to read balances directly:

- [`Query.balance()`](/docs/reference/graphql/queries#balance): Get a single balance.
- [`Query.balances()`](/docs/reference/graphql/queries#balances): Query balances using index filters.

Balances can also be queried relationally as fields on the [Account](/docs/reference/graphql/types/object#account) and [AccountSet](/docs/reference/graphql/types/object#account-set) objects.

## Further Reading

To learn more about querying balances, see the tutorial on [Pulling Balances](/docs/tutorials/pulling-balances).

For more context on how balances work, see [Balances](/docs/accounting-core/balances).

To review the GraphQL docs for the `Balance` type, see [Balance](/docs/reference/graphql/types/object#balance).