The Trial Balance report displays each general ledger account’s cumulative debit and credit totals. It helps identify incorrect balances and supports forecasting and financial analysis. Compare current and previous year balances to improve budgeting and decision-making. Export the report in PDF or CSV format for further analysis.
Cause
Resolution
Running the report
You can run the report anytime to view ledger balances or perform analysis. Change the reporting period and criteria as needed. Go to Reports, Trial Balance to open the report page and set the criteria.
Viewing balances as of a specific date
Select As of in the Period field and enter a date to view balances up to that date. The report includes balance activity from the account start date through the selected date.
EXAMPLE:
You started using Accounting on January 15, 2018. To view balances as of June 29, 2020, select As of and enter 06/29/2020. The report shows balances from January 15, 2018 through June 29, 2020.
Use analysis options to review movements
Select a period in the Period field:
This year
Last year
This financial year
Last financial year
This month
Last month
This quarter
Last quarter
Custom: Enter a date range in the From and To fields
View beginning and ending balances
Choose one option:
This period only: Shows movements in the selected period without beginning and ending balances
Show beginning & ending balances: Includes entries before the selected period, including prior fiscal year entries
If you select As of, the Summarize retained earnings values option becomes available.
Summarized Retained Earnings example:
Your fiscal year ends on December 31. You posted three invoices to Sales Income: $500 this month, $200 last month, and $100 last fiscal year.
Without Summarize retained earnings, the report shows $500 for the current month, $300 in Beginning Balance, and $800 in Ending Balance
With Summarize retained earnings, the report shows $500 for the current month, $200 in Beginning Balance, and $700 in Ending Balance
The Retained Earnings line shows $100
Expand the Retained Earnings line to view $0 in the month column and $100 in both Beginning and Ending Balance columns.
Other criteria
Hide zero balance accounts: The system excludes zero‑balance accounts by default. Clear this option to include accounts with activity that nets to zero
Show GIFI codes: Includes GIFI codes from your chart of accounts
Drilling down into report data
Select any balance in the Debit or Credit column to view the related transactions.
For Balance Sheet accounts except Retained Earnings, the Detailed General Ledger report opens
For Retained Earnings, the Profit and Loss report opens with summarized balances
Select Back in your browser to return to the Trial Balance report.
Find and correct errors
Unexpected ledger balances indicate missing, duplicate, or incorrect postings. Drill down to identify the issue. To correct errors, amend the transaction or create a journal entry.
When creating a journal entry:
Select the affected ledger account on the adjustment side.