Generating the Trial Balance

The Trial Balance is a fundamental accounting report that lists every account in your chart of accounts along with its debit or credit balance. It serves as a quick verification that your books are in balance — that is, total debits equal total credits. This requires the FIN_VIEW_REPORTS permission.

Opening the Trial Balance

Navigate to Business > Trial Balance from the main menu. The the Trial Balance report form opens and immediately loads the current balances for all accounts that have activity.

Understanding the Grid

The Trial Balance grid displays one row per account with the following columns:

Accounts are listed in order by account code. Each account appears on only one side — either the Debit Balance column or the Credit Balance column — depending on its net balance. Debit-normal accounts (such as Assets and Expenses) typically show in the Debit column, while credit-normal accounts (such as Liabilities, Equity, and Revenue) typically show in the Credit column.

Accounts with a zero balance are excluded from the report to keep it concise.

Totals Row

At the bottom of the grid, a totals row displays the sum of all Debit Balance amounts and the sum of all Credit Balance amounts. This row is styled in bold with a light steel blue background to visually distinguish it from the account rows.

The totals row is the most important part of the Trial Balance because it tells you whether your books are balanced.

Balance Verification Status

Below the grid, a status label indicates the verification result:

• “In Balance” — Displayed in green when total debits exactly equal total credits. This is the expected state and confirms that every transaction has been properly recorded with matching debits and credits.
• “Out of Balance by $X.XX” — Displayed in red when there is a discrepancy between total debits and total credits. The dollar amount shows the difference. This indicates a problem that needs investigation, such as a one-sided entry or a balance calculation error.

If the Trial Balance shows an out-of-balance condition, you should investigate recent transactions for errors. You can also use the Repair Balances function (Business > Repair Balances) to recalculate all account balances from the transaction history.

Location Filtering

Use the Location dropdown at the top of the form to filter the Trial Balance by a specific business location. When a location is selected, only transactions associated with that location are included in the balance calculations. Select “All Locations” to see the combined Trial Balance across the entire business.

Changing the location automatically reloads the grid with the filtered data.

Printing the Trial Balance

Click the Print button in the toolbar to generate a printed version of the Trial Balance using the ReportPrinter. The printed report includes:

• Report title and date
• Location name (if filtered)
• All account rows with their debit or credit balances
• The totals row
• The balance verification status

The printed report is formatted for standard letter-size paper and can be sent to any installed printer or saved as a document.

Drilling Down to Account Transactions

You can view the individual transactions that make up any account's balance directly from the Trial Balance:

• Right-click on any account row and select View Transactions from the context menu, or
• Double-click on any account row

Either action opens the Account Transactions form filtered to the selected account, where you can see every debit and credit that contributes to the balance shown on the Trial Balance.

This drill-down capability makes the Trial Balance a powerful starting point for investigating discrepancies. If an account's balance looks unexpected, you can immediately examine the underlying transactions.

When to Use the Trial Balance

The Trial Balance is most useful in these situations:

• End of period — Run the Trial Balance before closing an accounting period to verify all entries are balanced
• Before generating financial statements — Confirm the Trial Balance is in balance before producing the Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet reports
• After bulk entries — If you have recorded many transactions or journal entries, run the Trial Balance to catch any errors
• Troubleshooting — When financial statements show unexpected numbers, the Trial Balance helps identify which accounts are causing the discrepancy

Tips

• Always verify balance before closing a period — An out-of-balance Trial Balance indicates an error that should be corrected before the period is locked
• Use drill-down liberally — If any account balance looks wrong, double-click it to see the individual transactions
• Print for your records — Keep a printed Trial Balance for each accounting period as part of your audit trail
• Compare across periods — Print the Trial Balance at the same point each month to track how account balances are trending