Trial Balance
Accounting Cycle: Transaction Occurs Journal entry General Ledger (t-accounts) Trial Balance
The Rule of debiting and crediting accounts: Assets + = Liabilities Owner’s Equity + - - + - +
After each entry, the Ledger should be in BALANCE! (A = L + OE) Therefore, to check the accuracy of the Ledger, we prepare a TRIAL BALANCE
A TRIAL BALANCE is a simple procedure used to find out if the ledger is in balance (A = L + OE) The debit entries must equal the credit entries, if not, the ledger is “out of balance”
For a TRIAL BALANCE, we prepare a heading Who? What? When? Accounts are listed in order of A, L, OE Account balances are listed in the correct columns, and the column totals should AGREE!!!!
If “OUT OF BALANCE” Re-add the trial balance Check the figures from the ledger to the trial balance Recalculate the account balances Check that the transactions have equal debits and credits
Additional ‘Out of balance’ If difference is divisible by 9; transposition error example: 123 132 If difference is a multiple of 10; addition error
DEBIT = CREDIT
Step 5 of the Accounting Cycle BALANCE SHEET
Homework: start ex. 3 & 5, p. 182-183 (t), p. 120 (wk), trial balances ex. 1 - 4 p. 115-116 (t), p. 58-59 (w) Ex. 4, p. 124 (t), p. 66 (w) start ex. 5 (Hoystead), p. 125 (t), p. 66-67 (w) – use journal page provided, post to ledger p. 66-67, complete trial balance p. 66 (w)