The Trial Balance report shows a snapshot of each general ledger account's balances at a specific time. It includes cumulative totals of debits and credits posted to each account.

Why is it important?

The Trial Balance report provides a view of all ledger accounts, including Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss accounts. It helps identify incorrect account balances, allowing you to fix issues before running other financial reports. The report is crucial for forecasting and analysis. Comparing this year’s balances with last year’s helps in budgeting and making financial decisions. You can export the report in PDF or CSV format for further analysis.

Running the report

Run the Trial Balance report anytime to see all ledger account balances or perform an analysis. Change the report format by selecting a different reporting period and criteria. Go to Reporting, Trial Balance to open the report page and set the criteria. The Period field options are to see balances “as of” a specific date or to see account movements for analysis.

As of a date

Select As of in the Period field and enter a date to see ledger account balances up to that date. The report will show balances from the start of the accounts through the selected date.

Example: You started using Accounting on January 15, 2018. Today is June 29, 2020, and you want to see your ledger account balances. Select As of in the Period field and enter 06/29/2020 in the Date field. The report will show balances from January 15, 2018, through June 29, 2020.

Analysis options, focused on in/out movements

To run an analysis report, select one of these options in the Period field:

• This year, Last year, This financial year, or Last financial year
• This month, Last month, This quarter, or Last quarter
• Custom: Enter your own date range in the From and To fields

Beginning and ending balances

Add these adjustment options to the criteria:

• This period only: See only movement in the selected period without beginning and ending balances
• Show beginning & ending balances: Include all entries made before the selected period, including entries from the previous fiscal year

 NOTE: The Summarize retained earnings values option is available if you select As of in the Period field. 

About summarized retained earnings values

Example: Your fiscal year ends on December 31. You entered three sales invoices during the year: one this month for $500, one last month for $200, and one last fiscal year for $100. You posted all Sales Invoices to the Sales Income ledger account. Select This Month (in the Period field) and Show beginning & ending balances before running the Trial Balance report. If you:

1. Don’t select Summarize retained earnings values, the report shows $500 for the current month and $300 in the Beginning Balance. The Ending Balance column shows $800.
2. Select Summarize retained earnings values, the report shows $500 for the current month, $200 in Beginning Balance, and $700 in Ending Balance. A total of $100 shows on the Retained Earnings line. If you expand the line, a zero balance shows in the month column and $100 in the Beginning and Ending Balance columns.

Other criteria

1. Hide zero balance accounts: By default, the system selects this option, excluding ledger accounts with a zero balance on the report. Deselect it to include ledger accounts with activity in the period where the net balance is zero.
2. Show GIFI codes: Include GIFI codes from your chart of accounts on the report.

Drilling down the report data

Click any balance in the Debit or Credit column to see the transactions that make up that balance. If you drill down on:

1. A Balance Sheet ledger account (except Retained Earnings and Profit and Loss), the Detailed General Ledger report opens. To review the transactions, click an amount to drill down further as needed.
2. The Retained Earnings line, the Profit and Loss report opens, detailing the account balances summarized into Retained Earnings.

To return to the Trial Balance report, click Back in your browser.

Finding and fixing errors

If your ledger account balances are higher or lower than expected, this could indicate missing, double-booked, or incorrect postings. Drilling down is the best way to investigate any balance that appears incorrect on the Trial Balance report. To fix a posting error, amend the incorrect transaction or create a journal entry. When creating a journal entry:

• Select the affected ledger account on the adjustment side
• Ensure it’s the opposite type of entry as the erroneous entry
• If multiple lines, they must equal the amount of the erroneous entry