What this screen is for
A trial balance lists the balance of every ledger account as at a single date and totals the debit and credit sides. Because every entry in double-entry bookkeeping posts an equal debit and credit, the two totals should agree; where they do not, something has gone in wrongly. You set the as-of date directly or use the shortcuts for today, month end or year end.
When to use it
Run it as a check before preparing a profit and loss account or balance sheet, and whenever you want confidence that the books hold together. It reports on balances — it does not post anything. The report can be printed, previewed, downloaded as a PDF or taken as a CSV.
What you see on this screen
Three cards: Total Debits, Total Credits and Status, which reads Balanced or Out of Balance with the difference beneath. A banner repeats the same verdict, stating the agreed total when the two sides match and the difference along with both totals when they do not.
The report itself is headed with your company name and the as-of date, and is arranged the way a Tally user would expect: account groups first, each opening to its sub-groups and the ledgers beneath. Its columns are:
- Account Code — the ledger's code; blank on a group row
- Account Name — the ledger or group name, indented by level
- Type — the account type, or Group on a group row
- Debit Balance — the balance where the account stands in debit as at the date; a dash where it does not
- Credit Balance — the balance where it stands in credit; a dash where it does not
A group row carries the rolled-up debit or credit of everything beneath it. GRAND TOTAL closes the table with both column totals, and where they disagree a DIFFERENCE (Out of Balance) row follows. Only accounts with a non-zero balance at the date appear.
Filters and actions
As of Date sets the date, with Today, Month End and Year End as shortcuts. Expand All and Collapse All open or close every group at once. Print, Preview, PDF and Excel sit in the header. The footer records when the report was generated.
Related
- General Ledger — the transactions behind a balance shown here
- Balance Sheet — the financial position at the same kind of date
- Profit & Loss — income and expenditure over a period