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.

Running the report

Run the Trial Balance report anytime to view ledger balances or perform analysis. Change the format by selecting a different reporting period and criteria. Go to Reporting, Trial Balance to open the report page and set your 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 all balances from the account start date through the selected date.

Example:

 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 in the Date field. The report shows balances from January 15, 2018, through June 29, 2020. 

Analysis options, focused on in/out movements

Select one of the following in the Period field to run an analysis:

• 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

Beginning and ending balances

Choose one of these options:

• This period only: View movements in the selected period without beginning and ending balances
• Show beginning & ending balances: Include 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: $500 this month, $200 last month, and $100 last fiscal year to the Sales Income account.

1. Without Summarize retained earnings, the report shows $500 for the current month, $300 in Beginning Balance, and $800 in Ending Balance
2. 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

1. Hide zero balance accounts: By default, the system excludes accounts with zero balances. Deselect to include accounts with activity but net-zero balance.
2. Show GIFI codes: Include GIFI codes from your chart of accounts.

Drilling down into report data

Click any balance in the Debit or Credit column to view the transactions behind it.

• For Balance Sheet accounts (except Retained Earnings and Profit and Loss), the Detailed General Ledger report opens. Click amounts to drill down further.
• For the Retained Earnings line, the Profit and Loss report opens, showing summarized balances.

Click Back in your browser to return to the Trial Balance report.

Finding and fixing errors

Unexpected ledger balances indicate missing, duplicate, or incorrect postings. Drill down to investigate. To fix errors, amend the transaction or create a journal entry.

When creating a journal entry:

• Select the affected ledger account on the adjustment side
• Use the opposite entry type from the error
• Ensure multiple lines total the erroneous amount