The Trial Balance
This post will cover the trial balance, an accounting report showing the closing balances of all general ledger accounts at a point in time.
Trial Balances
In the past trial balances, accountants used to check that total debits equaled total credits. However, with the introduction of accounting software, this has been done automatically. Nowadays, the trial balance is an internal document used by accountants to check for errors and assist in producing financial statements.
Common Mistakes
Switching the debits and credits
Posting the same journal twice
Not posting it at all
Posting a journal to the wrong accounts
Getting the number values wrong
TL;DR
The trial balance is an accounting report showing the closing balances of all general ledger accounts at a point in time.
It is an internal report used by accountants to check for errors and produce financial statements.
The totals of the debit and credit columns must match each other.
Balanced columns don’t mean the trial balance is free of errors.
