Trial Balance Tutorial

Overview#

• A Trial Balance verifies the accuracy of the double-entry bookkeeping system.
• In double-entry accounting, every financial transaction affects at least two accounts.
• One side of the entry is recorded as a debit and the other as a credit.
• The Trial Balance confirms that every debit entry has an equivalent credit entry.
• If the totals do not match, it indicates potential errors in recording transactions, such as omissions, duplications or incorrect amounts. These must be investigated and corrected.

A Trial Balance is usually divided into main categories which include assets, liabilities, income, expense and equity accounts.

💡These tutorials explain how to display a Trial Balance and verify that the records adhere to the double-entry bookkeeping system.

How to Select Trial Balance Dates#

1. Navigate to the Trial Balance.
2. Click the dropdown list next to Financial Year to select the financial year.
3. Select specific dates next to the two adjacent dropdown lists: Period ... to.
4. Click View (button).

How to Verify the Double-Entry System#

1. Display a Trial Balance.
2. On the top-right is a field: Balance and a number next to it.
   1. If the number is zero every entry has a counterpart.
   2. If the number is not zero, the double-entry system has a problem that must be investigated. See Trial Errors Tutorial for guidance.

How to View All the Accounts on the Trial Balance#

1. Click the dropdown list next to Financial Year to select the financial year.
2. Check Show all to see all the individual accounts including those with zero balances.
3. Click View (button).

How to View Detailed Transactions from the Trial Balance#

1. Display a Trial Balance.
2. Double-click any account to view the detailed transactions on the General Ledger account.

How to Show the Trial Balance by Account Number#

1. Navigate to the Trial Balance.
2. Select a financial year.
3. Check Order by Account No. to order the Trial Balance by Account Number.
   • Note: If you are not using account numbers, the accounts are ordered randomly.
4. Click View (button).

How to Print the Trial Balance#

1. Display a Trial Balance.
2. Click Output (button) > Print to print the report to the default printer or click Print (Show Dialogue) to select a printer, for example, a .pdf printer.

How to Preview the Trial Balance#

1. Display a Trial Balance.
2. Click Output (button) > Preview.
   • Note: Click the printer icon to print the statement to a printer of your choice, including PDF.

How to Email the Trial Balance#

1. Display a Trial Balance.
2. Click Menu (button) > Email Excel to email the Trial Balance in Excel format, or
3. Click Output (button) > Email to email the Trial Balance in PDF format.

How to Reset the Current Trial Balance Display#

1. After displaying a trial balance using specific filters:
2. Click Reset (button) to reset the filters.