Trial Balance

The trail balance report provides a check of the double entry accounting system. The double entry system relies on the fact that every transaction entered is recorded twice (two entries) on both sides on the accounting equation. Thus for every item sold we record the credit the income to the income account and debit the accounts receivable account with the same amount.

The trail balance report lists these transactions as credits and debits on the various accounts and at any moment in time and for any accounting period the two should balance, hence the reports name 'Trial Balance'.

If all is correct the accounts should balance, small differences (pence) are common as the computer handles small amount of VAT in different ways in different areas, but large differences in amount would identify missing entries and should be investigated.

You may analyse the report for selected periods to try and identify the error.

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