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Trial Balance

The Trial Balance is a report that lists every account in your chart of accounts along with its debit or credit balance. Its primary purpose is to verify that your books are balanced — total debits should equal total credits.

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When to use it

  • Month-end close — run a trial balance to catch errors before generating other reports
  • Before sharing reports — verify everything balances before sending P&L or Balance Sheet to your accountant
  • Troubleshooting — if your Balance Sheet doesn’t balance, the trial balance helps identify which accounts are off

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How to read it

AccountDebitCredit
Bank Account - Checking$45,000
Accounts Receivable$12,000
Office Equipment$5,000
Accounts Payable$8,000
Owner’s Equity$30,000
Revenue$35,000
Operating Expenses$11,000
Totals$73,000$73,000
If the totals match → your books are balanced ✅ If they don’t match → there’s an error that needs investigation ❌

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Running the report

  1. Go to Reports → Trial Balance
  2. Select the as-of date
  3. Click Generate

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Exporting

Click Export to download as PDF or CSV. This is commonly shared with accountants during tax preparation.
Tip for accountants: The Trial Balance is usually the first report your accountant will ask for. Having it ready saves time during year-end and tax prep.