3.9 Trial Balance

The equality of debits and credits posted to the ledger accounts is verified by preparing a trial balance- a list of all of the accounts in the order in which they appear in the general ledger with their current balances.
A trial balance that does not balance is a clear indication of one or more in the accounts, or an error in preparing the trial balance.
Although there is no one correct procedure for locating all types of errors, the following systematic approach will be helpful.
1. Check the accuracy of the trial balance totals by adding the columns again.
2. Calculate the difference between the totals.
3. Compare the balances listed in the trial balance with the ledger accounts to verify that all account balances were included and copied correctly.
4. Recalculate the account balances.
5. Verify that the debits equal the credits for each entry in the journal.
6. Trace the entries as recorded in the journal to the ledger accounts, and place a small tick by each account in the journal and ledger as each posting is verified.

