A balance sheet in Malay is a kunci kira-kira. In formal financial statements it is titled penyata kedudukan kewangan, which is the Malay for “statement of financial position”. Both names mean the same report.
That is the translation. What usually follows is harder: your accountant sends back a kunci kira-kira with thirty line items in Malay, or the bank asks for one, or you are keying opening balances into a system that labels every field in a language you don't use for accounting.
So this page is a translator and a beginner's guide at the same time. Every line on a balance sheet is mapped from English to Malay, with a plain explanation of what each one actually means — then a full example in ringgit, how to read it, and a free bilingual template.
What is a balance sheet in Malay?
A balance sheet in Malay is called a kunci kira-kira. In formal financial statements it is titled penyata kedudukan kewangan (statement of financial position). It lists what a business owns (aset), what it owes (liabiliti) and what is left for the owner (ekuiti) on one specific date.
The three words that carry the whole report
Aset = Liabiliti + Ekuiti. Everything below is detail on those three words.
01. What is a balance sheet in Malay?
| English | Malay | When you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| Balance sheet | Kunci kira-kira | Everyday use, school syllabus, most small-business accounts |
| Statement of financial position | Penyata kedudukan kewangan | Formal financial statements, audited accounts, filings |
The report answers one question: what does the business own, what does it owe, and what is left over for the owner — on one specific date.
That “one date” part matters. A balance sheet shows your position on a single day, like a photo. A profit and loss statement covers a whole period, like a video of what happened in between.
What is “asset” in Malay?
Asset in Malay is aset. It means something the business owns or controls that has value — cash, stock, equipment, or money customers still owe you.
What is “liability” in Malay?
Liability in Malay is liabiliti. It means money the business owes — supplier bills, bank loans, or expenses you have used but not yet paid.
What is “equity” in Malay?
Equity in Malay is ekuiti. It is what belongs to the owner after you take the liabilities away from the assets.
02. Kunci kira-kira vs penyata kedudukan kewangan
Both terms are correct, but they are normally used in slightly different situations.
- Kunci kira-kira is the traditional name and the one most people know. Talking to a business owner, a supplier or a bank officer? This is the term that lands.
- Penyata kedudukan kewangan is the formal title used in financial statements, matching the English change from “balance sheet” to “statement of financial position”.
Simple rule: use kunci kira-kira when you are explaining something to someone. Use penyata kedudukan kewangan when you are labelling a formal statement, or matching what your accountant has already called it. The report itself does not change — same lines, same totals, same date.
For the official Malay financial terms, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Istilah Kewangan database (istilahwang.dbp.gov.my) is the public reference. Useful to bookmark if you work in both languages.
03. Balance sheet terms: English to Malay
Every line you are likely to meet on a Malaysian small-business balance sheet, with what it actually means.
The three sections
| English | Malay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Aset | Everything the business owns that has value |
| Liabilities | Liabiliti | Everything the business owes to someone else |
| Equity | Ekuiti | What is left for the owner after debts are taken off |
Assets — Aset
| English | Malay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Current assets | Aset semasa | Things you expect to turn into cash within a year |
| Non-current assets | Aset bukan semasa | Things you keep and use for more than a year |
| Fixed assets | Aset tetap | Equipment, vehicles, fittings — used, not sold |
| Cash in hand | Tunai di tangan | Physical cash in the shop or the safe |
| Cash at bank | Tunai di bank | Money sitting in the business bank account |
| Inventory / Stock | Inventori / Stok | Goods you still have available to sell |
| Trade receivables / Debtors | Penghutang perdagangan / Penghutang | Money customers still owe your business |
| Accounts receivable | Akaun belum terima | Another name for money owed to you, not yet collected |
| Prepaid expenses | Belanja prabayar | Costs you paid early, like rent for next month |
| Property, plant and equipment | Hartanah, loji dan peralatan | Bigger long-term items: premises, machines, tools |
| Motor vehicles | Kenderaan | Vans, lorries or cars owned by the business |
| Furniture and fittings | Perabot dan lengkapan | Shelving, counters, chairs, shop fit-out |
| Accumulated depreciation | Susut nilai terkumpul | How much value your equipment has lost over the years |
Liabilities — Liabiliti
| English | Malay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Current liabilities | Liabiliti semasa | Debts you have to settle within a year |
| Non-current liabilities | Liabiliti bukan semasa | Debts due more than a year from now |
| Trade payables / Creditors | Pemiutang perdagangan / Pemiutang | Money your business still owes suppliers |
| Accounts payable | Akaun belum bayar | Another name for supplier bills not yet paid |
| Accrued expenses | Belanja terakru | Costs you have used but not been billed for yet |
| Bank overdraft | Overdraf bank | Money you have drawn beyond your bank balance |
| Bank loan | Pinjaman bank | Borrowing from the bank, repaid over time |
| Hire purchase | Sewa beli | An item you use now and pay off in instalments |
Equity — Ekuiti
| English | Malay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Owner's equity | Ekuiti pemilik | The owner's share of the business |
| Capital | Modal | Money the owner put into the business |
| Share capital | Modal saham | Money put in by shareholders of a Sdn Bhd |
| Retained earnings | Pendapatan tertahan / Untung tertahan | Profit the business kept from previous periods |
| Drawings | Ambilan | Money the owner took out for personal use |
| Total | Jumlah | The added-up figure for a section |
THE ACCOUNTING EQUATION
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
Aset = Liabiliti + Ekuiti
If the two sides don't agree, the report is not finished. That is why it is called a kunci kira-kira — the key that balances.
04. A simple balance sheet example in English and Malay
Kedai Runcit Amanah Sdn Bhd — as at 31 December 2026. All figures in RM.
Assets — Aset
| Line (English / Malay) | RM |
|---|---|
| Non-current assets — Aset bukan semasa | |
| Furniture and fittings — Perabot dan lengkapan | 18,000 |
| Motor vehicle — Kenderaan | 42,000 |
| Less: Accumulated depreciation — Tolak: Susut nilai terkumpul | (12,000) |
| Total non-current assets — Jumlah aset bukan semasa | 48,000 |
| Current assets — Aset semasa | |
| Inventory — Inventori | 26,500 |
| Trade receivables — Penghutang perdagangan | 9,800 |
| Cash at bank — Tunai di bank | 15,200 |
| Cash in hand — Tunai di tangan | 1,500 |
| Total current assets — Jumlah aset semasa | 53,000 |
| TOTAL ASSETS — JUMLAH ASET | 101,000 |
Equity and liabilities — Ekuiti dan liabiliti
| Line (English / Malay) | RM |
|---|---|
| Equity — Ekuiti | |
| Capital — Modal | 60,000 |
| Retained earnings — Pendapatan tertahan | 18,300 |
| Total equity — Jumlah ekuiti | 78,300 |
| Non-current liabilities — Liabiliti bukan semasa | |
| Bank loan — Pinjaman bank | 12,000 |
| Current liabilities — Liabiliti semasa | |
| Trade payables — Pemiutang perdagangan | 8,200 |
| Accrued expenses — Belanja terakru | 2,500 |
| Total current liabilities — Jumlah liabiliti semasa | 10,700 |
| TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES — JUMLAH EKUITI DAN LIABILITI | 101,000 |
Both sides come to RM 101,000. Assets 101,000 = Equity 78,300 + Liabilities 22,700. The balance sheet balances.
Notice the depreciation line sits inside assets as a negative, not with the liabilities. Your equipment is still yours; it has just lost some value. Putting that line in the wrong place is one of the commonest reasons a hand-built balance sheet refuses to balance.
05. How to read a kunci kira-kira
You do not need to understand every line to get something useful out of it. Three checks tell you most of what you need to know.
1. Do the two totals match?
Look at the bottom of both halves. Jumlah aset must equal jumlah ekuiti dan liabiliti. In the example above, both are RM 101,000. If they don't match, the report is not finished and the numbers above it cannot be trusted yet.
2. Can you cover the next twelve months?
Compare aset semasa (things becoming cash within a year) against liabiliti semasa (debts due within a year). In the example: RM 53,000 against RM 10,700. There is comfortable room. If current liabilities were the bigger number, the business would be relying on future sales to pay bills that are already due.
3. Is the owner's share growing?
Ekuiti is your stake. Compare it with last year's balance sheet. Rising equity usually means the business kept profit; falling equity usually means losses, or that the owner drew out more than the business earned (ambilan).
One line worth watching: penghutang perdagangan — money customers still owe you. A large figure here means your sales are real but the cash has not arrived. Growing sales with growing receivables and shrinking bank balance is the pattern that catches profitable businesses out.
06. Balance sheet vs trial balance in Malay
A trial balance in Malay is an imbangan duga. The two documents get mixed up constantly, and they are not the same thing.
| Trial balance / Imbangan duga | Balance sheet / Kunci kira-kira | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A working list of every account with its debit or credit balance | A finished financial statement |
| Who sees it | You and your accountant | Banks, auditors, partners, the owner |
| What it proves | Total debits = total credits | Assets = liabilities + equity |
| Contains | Every account, including income and expenses | Only assets, liabilities and equity |
| Purpose | A check before you prepare the statements | The report itself |
The order the documents come in
The trial balance comes first. Once it balances, you use it to build the other two.
Which is why a trial balance that will not balance stops everything else. A quick way in: take the difference between your two totals — if it divides exactly by 9 you have typed two digits in the wrong order, and if it divides exactly by 2 an entry is sitting on the wrong side.
07. Other common accounting terms in Malay
Balance sheet terms rarely arrive on their own. These are the ones you will need next.
| English | Malay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Income statement | Penyata pendapatan | What you earned and spent over a period |
| Profit and loss statement | Penyata untung rugi | The same report, more common name |
| Revenue / Sales | Hasil / Jualan | Money earned from selling, before costs |
| Purchases | Belian | Goods bought to resell |
| Cost of goods sold | Kos barang dijual | What the goods you sold actually cost you |
| Gross profit | Untung kasar | Sales minus the cost of the goods sold |
| Operating expenses | Belanja operasi | Running costs: rent, salaries, utilities |
| Net profit | Untung bersih | What is left after every cost is taken off |
| Cash flow | Aliran tunai | Money actually moving in and out |
| Ledger | Lejar | The full record of every account |
| Debit | Debit | The left side of an entry |
| Credit | Kredit | The right side of an entry |
If you would rather read these explained in Malay than mapped from English, there is a full Malay-language guide to the kunci kira-kira on the Malay side of the site.
08. Free bilingual balance sheet template
Free, no sign-up, ringgit-ready — labelled in both English and Malay, so the same file works for your accountant and for your bank.
Every line labelled in English and Malay. Type in the RM column; the totals and the balance check work themselves out.
Excel ↓Debit and credit columns that total as you type, with a cell that tells you whether it balances.
Excel ↓The Kedai Runcit Amanah example above, filled in and bilingual, so you can see a finished one.
PDF ↓Free · No sign-up · RM-ready · Works on your phone or PC.
09. Getting the report without building it
A template is fine when you prepare a balance sheet once or twice a year. It stops being fine when you want to know where you stand this month.
When your invoices, expenses, payments and stock all record into the same set of books as you go, the balance sheet is a report you open rather than a document you build. The figures are already there.
Niagawan Plus is RM497 a year and includes three Niagawan Accounting User IDs, bank reconciliation, AR/AP aging, digital invoicing, automatic tax and zakat reports, and the financial reports — the balance sheet among them. Prices exclude SST.
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Bryant Gan is the Founder of Niagawan — the cloud accounting and POS system used by more than 40,000 businesses in Malaysia since 2016. He has spent over 10 years building software that helps Malaysian SMEs keep their books, stock, and tax records in order.
Frequently asked questions
What is balance sheet in Malay?
A balance sheet in Malay is a kunci kira-kira. In formal financial statements it is titled penyata kedudukan kewangan, the equivalent of “statement of financial position”. Both names mean the same report.
What is kunci kira-kira in English?
Kunci kira-kira in English is the balance sheet. It is the report that lists what a business owns, what it owes, and what is left for the owner on one specific date.
What is penyata kedudukan kewangan in English?
Penyata kedudukan kewangan in English is the statement of financial position — the formal name for the balance sheet. It is the same report as a kunci kira-kira, just the title used in formal financial statements.
What are assets, liabilities and equity in Malay?
Assets are aset — what the business owns. Liabilities are liabiliti — what it owes. Equity is ekuiti — what is left for the owner once the liabilities are taken off the assets. The equation every balance sheet follows is Aset = Liabiliti + Ekuiti.
What is trial balance in Malay?
Imbangan duga. It is the working list of every account with its debit and credit balance, prepared before the financial statements. It is not the same document as a kunci kira-kira — the trial balance comes first, and the balance sheet is built from it.
What is imbangan duga in English?
Imbangan duga in English is the trial balance. It is a working list of every account and its balance, used to check that total debits equal total credits before the financial statements are prepared.
What is a balance sheet in simple words?
It is a list of what a business owns, what it owes, and what is left for the owner — on one specific date. Everything it owns must have been paid for either by borrowing or by the owner's own money, which is why the two sides always come to the same total.
What is the balance sheet called now?
In formal financial statements it is titled the statement of financial position — penyata kedudukan kewangan in Malay. “Balance sheet” and kunci kira-kira remain in everyday use and mean exactly the same report.
What is the purpose of a balance sheet in accounting?
It shows financial position at a point in time: whether the business can cover its short-term debts, how much it owes in total, and how much value the owner actually holds. Banks and investors read it before lending or investing.
What are the two types of balance sheets?
The two common formats are the vertical format, which lists assets, then liabilities, then equity down the page, and the horizontal (or account) format, which puts assets on the left and liabilities plus equity on the right. The example on this page uses the vertical format — the one taught in the Malaysian syllabus and the easier of the two to read on a phone.
What is retained earnings in Malay?
Pendapatan tertahan, also written as untung tertahan. It is the profit the business has kept from previous periods rather than paid out to the owner, and it sits inside equity on the balance sheet.
What is inventory in Malay?
Inventori, also called stok. It is the goods you still have available to sell, and it sits under current assets (aset semasa) on the balance sheet.
Why does my trial balance not tally?
Start with the difference itself: if it divides exactly by 9 you have transposed two digits, and if it divides exactly by 2 an entry is on the wrong side. Beyond those, the usual causes are a one-sided entry, opening balances brought forward wrongly, or bank charges never recorded. Those three cover most cases.
Is there a free balance sheet template in Malay?
Yes — the Excel template on this page is labelled in both English and Malay, works in ringgit, and calculates its own totals and balance check. There is a matching bilingual trial balance template and a completed worked example in PDF. All free, no sign-up.
Do I need to prepare a balance sheet in Malay?
It depends on who is reading it. Formal statements prepared by an accountant are often titled in Malay, and banks may ask for either language. Using bilingual labels — as the template on this page does — means one document works for both audiences.