AA 4th & 5th Steps

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Assets & Liabilities [AL] - 4th Step 

Three Column [3C] 4th Step

Assets & Liabilities [AL] - The AA Founders 4th & 5th Step Lists

Description: This page contain two Moral Inventory styles that are a vital part of AA's Program of Action. Both can be printed and used freely.

Assets and Liabilities [AL]: Requires two people to work together. Is the original "Commercial Inventory" style that Founders and Pioneers of AA used. Two people sit down together. The sponsor reads and asks the questions. The sponsee answers and shares their story. This is the more thorough of the two inventories. 

Three Column [3C]: This can be printed and handed to newcomer to be filled out on their own. This particular inventory is meticulously crafted according to the Big Book instructions. It's perfect for getting things down, in our own handwriting and in our own time, so that when the 5th Step is done we have everything we need.

There are many different ways of doing the steps and there are no "requirements" in AA regarding the steps. People can work the steps however they want. This is great. It has also led to some really hokey stuff being told to newcomers sometimes. If anyone is new and wants to check historical accuracy of what they are told about the steps then this is a good page to read. 

Inventories can change as needed. They are not rigid - they don't need to be exactly the same for every person. It can be liberating to allow the inventory process to open up, untethered, without dogmatic rules. The 3 Column inventory is a good inventory to introduce a newcomer to the 4th step. It follows the Big Book precisely, obsessively, down to the letter. And it is in context. It's offered as a way of simplifying the instructions, providing some definitive direction and as a starting off point for people who want to expand their inventories further. Once the essential basics are learned it's easy to adjust as needed. 

The Assets and Liabilities list is an amazing process. It's the fastest, most concise way to help someone through steps 1-9. There's no wasted space. Everything needed to take a person through the steps on one page (plus Big Book) that can be reprinted for more names. There are many different lists and versions. Archie's list is the most modern. It compiles the essential basics from the founders lists, Big Book, 12&12, Little Red Book and Word of Mouth Program handed over generations to this day.