LEO:
on balance - per saldo
on balance [finan.] - per Saldo
on balance [finan.] - per saldo
net (adj.) - per saldo
altogether (adv.), all things considered, all told - alles in allem
on the whole - im Ganzen, im Großen und Ganzen

related discussion: on balance
related discussion: on balance - alles in Allem

Saldo - [Kaufm.] Differenzbetrag, der sich nach der Aufrechnung der Soll- und Habenseite eines Kontos ergibt: einen S. aufweisen, aufstellen, gutschreiben, ausgleichen; einen S. auszahlen, anerkennen, bestätigen; der S. beträgt 100 Mark; im S. bleiben, sein (noch etw. schulden); ein S. zu unseren Gunsten, Lasten (in Höhe von ...); per S., laut S., auf Grund des Saldos ...

NOAD:
on balance - with all things considered: on balance he was pleased.

Chambers:
on balance - having taken all the advantages and disadvantages into consideration.

Webster's 3rd unabridged:
on balance /also/ in balance - all things considered : in a final analysis {economic aid has, on balance, been justified ...} {a ... noble experiment which, on balance, has already proved itself an inexpensive insurance policy against social collapse ...}

Pons-Collins:
per saldo - (lit, fig) on balance
on the balance of probabilities - wenn man die Möglichkeiten gegeneinander abwägt
on the whole - im Großen und Ganzen, im Ganzen gesehen, alles in allem
all things considered - alles in allem

Oxford-Duden:
on balance - (fig.) alles in allem
on the whole - im Großen und Ganzen
on the whole I am against it - alles in allem bin ich dagegen
all things considered - alles in allem

Roget's Thesaurus:
15.14 on the whole ... all in all ... on balance

Sorry, I just posted all this in the other thread because I didn't notice that it wasn't already in New Entry. This really is not my good week for posting the right thing in the right place.

Oh well, one more time ...


'Alles in allem' is surely more common than 'per saldo,' which is the only existing translation for 'on balance.'

Additional suggestions for the German side could also be good; in the other thread one person suggested 'im Endeffekt,' but I'm not sure that's quite the same.

If possible, it would also probably be nice to reduce the number of entries for the pair 'on balance' and 'per saldo/Saldo,' and make clear whether that's only financial or also figurative.