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Trial Balance

Check that debits equal credits and see every posting account's opening balance, movement and closing balance, on its own or next to a prior period.

For accountantsUpdated 4 Nov 2026

Before you start

  • Set up the chart of accountsThe trial balance lists your posting accounts. The account marked "Use as Transfer of Net Profit account" receives the profit of earlier periods.
  • Enter opening balancesOpening balances from your old system are part of every account's opening and closing balance.
  • Close a periodTrial Balance (Comparative) uses your fiscal months, quarters and years.
  • Set up dimensionsOnly if you want a trial balance for one dimension value.
In this article
  1. Steps
  2. How to read the columns
  3. If something looks wrong
  4. Related reports

There are two trial balances. Both list every posting account with its opening balance, the debits and credits in the period, and its closing balance, and both must add up to the same total on each side.

ReportUse it whenPeriods
Trial BalanceYou want a quick check, to search for an account, or to hide columns.Today, This Week, This Month, This Year (1 January to 31 December) or a custom range.
Trial Balance (Comparative)You want a fiscal month, quarter or year, with a prior period or prior year alongside.Your fiscal calendar.

Steps

  1. Open the Trial Balance

    In the menu on the left, select Reports, then Trial Balance. It opens for This Month.

    1. Date: Today, This Week, This Month, This Year or Custom Range.
    2. More Filters › Dimension: one dimension value only.
    3. Apply reruns the report with the new date.
    4. Search for an account by name or code. The page jumps to it.
    5. Negative values: show credit balances as Cr, - or in brackets.
    6. Export saves what you see (the columns you chose) to Excel.
    7. Export to Excel asks the server for the full report as an Excel file.
    8. Customize Columns: choose which columns show.
    9. The columns, explained below.

    Select an account's name to open its General Ledger.

  2. Or open the Trial Balance (Comparative)

    Select Reports, then Financial Statements, then Trial Balance (Comparative).

    1. Period.
    2. Up to (or A date in the period).
    3. Compare with: No comparison, Prior period or Prior year.
    4. More Filters: dimension values.
    5. Run.
    6. Export to Excel.
    7. Opening, Debit, Credit and Closing, then the same four for the comparison.

    Here every balance is debit-positive: a credit balance shows in brackets.

How to read the columns

ColumnWhat it is
Opening Bal.Every posting before the first day of the period.
Debit, CreditThe totals posted in the period.
Balance (Trial Balance only)Debit less credit for the period: the period's movement, not the account's balance.
Closing Bal.Opening balance + the period's movement. This is the account's balance at the end of the period.
Grand TotalDebits and credits of all accounts. They must be equal, and the closing balances must add to nil.

Income and expense accounts. When an Equity account is marked Use as Transfer of Net Profit account, income and expense accounts start each period at nil: the profit of everything before the period is added to that account's opening balance instead. Without one, they keep their own opening balances.

If something looks wrong

What you seeWhat to do
Debits and credits don't agreeOpen the Journal Register and tick Only batches that do not balance.
An account looks wrongSelect it to open the General Ledger and see each posting.
"This Year" doesn't match your fiscal yearTrial Balance uses the calendar year. Use Trial Balance (Comparative) with Fiscal year.