Annual balance sheets are presented in speciedaler for the period 1817–1876 and in thousands of NOK for the period 1877–1939. During the Second World War (1940-1945) two balance sheets are shown, one for Norges Bank in Oslo and one for Norges Bank's «operations in free Norway and London». Annual balance sheets and monthly specifications of the main items are shown for the period May 1945 to December 1949. Complete monthly balance sheets are shown for the period from 1950 onwards.

As from 1817, Norges Bank published annual subaccounts for the ledger and the Bank's various funds and loan mechanisms. The article «Norges Banks balanse 1817-1945: Konsolidering av delregnskapene» [Norges Bank's balance sheets 1817-1945: consolidation of subaccounts] (Staff Memo 11/2013 with English summary) presents details of the accounts data and the methods used in preparing consolidated annual balance sheets for Norges Bank for the period 1817-1892.

Norges Bank's published annual balance sheets (in thousands of NOK) are shown for the period 1893-1939. Detailed annual balance sheets (in NOK) and monthly balance sheet extracts (in millions of NOK) are shown for the Bank's operations in Oslo during the Second World War, and annual balance sheets for the Bank's «operations in free Norway and London» (in thousands of NOK).

For the period following the Second World War, the monthly balance sheets are shown as presented in Norges Bank’s annual reports and the published monthly balance sheets. In order to facilitate comparison of the data over time, the balance sheets here are presented in millions of NOK. Since the monthly balance sheets up to the end of 1977 were published in thousands of NOK, the data are presented with three decimal places of precision.

As publication formats for the monthly balance sheets have changed over time, the accounts data are presented in a number of files. Table texts and footnotes in the tables are presented as far as possible as they appeared in the original monthly balance sheets.

There have been extensive changes in accounting principles since 1945. Some of these changes are reflected in footnotes.  The most important changes in accounting principles over the past thirty years are:

• 1985: Replacement of cash basis accounting by accrual basis accounting.
• 1994: Fixed assets are capitalised and written down instead of being entered as an expense upon procurement.
• 1999: Securities valued at market value rather than at either market value or average purchase price, whichever was lowest.
• 1999: Gold valued at real value, defined as 20% below market value rather than valued at historical purchase price.
• 2002: Gold valued at market value.
• 2004:  Gold reserves at Norges Bank are no longer part of the international reserves and most of the gold holdings are sold.  Norges Bank’s gold holdings now comprise a gold collection valued at the market value prevailing at the time the purpose of the collection was redefined as long-term ownership.
• 2005: Up to January 2005, Norges Bank’s results were broken down into expenses, valuation changes and income. From February, the cumulative profit/loss is shown on one line.
• 2008: Cash collateral received is recorded on the balance sheet. Collateral in the form of securities is also recorded on the balance sheet if reinvested.
• 2011: Norges Bank's monthly balance sheet has been restated in accordance with IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).