Trial balance

Purpose

Check that the books balance: total debit equals total credit, for the month and for the year to date.
Use it after opening balances are generated, and again before you close a month or a year.

No trial-balance wizard. Ask “how to print the trial balance” for this chapter.
The Assistant can paste an opening trial balance during setup. That import is not this report. See opening balance.

Financial start period and conversion date are set.
Opening balances are saved, and Save has been clicked again after past invoices and stock value so the red control accounts are generated. See customer and supplier opening balances, Maintain Stock Value, and opening balance.
A Retained Earnings account exists (chart type Retain Earning, an active sub-account). Year-end and this report both need it. See the chart of accounts.

Financial Report → Trial Balance.
Choose the ledger:
General Ledger — chart of accounts (balance sheet and profit and loss).
Sales Ledger — customer balances.
Purchase Ledger — supplier balances.
Set Start Date and End Date.
Optional Financial Year. The hint is Select Financial Year (Closed). Tick it to review a year you have already closed instead of typing dates. See Year-end closing.
Optional Project.
Click Search (magnifying glass, or F9).
Read Month To Date and Year To Date. Each has Debit and Credit.
Double-click a debit or credit amount to open Ledger Report for that account. A hint on the report says: Please double click on the debit or credit column to drill down.
Print PDF or Export To Excel.

Month To Date Debit = Credit — postings inside the month net to zero.
Year To Date Debit = Credit — opening balance plus every posting up to End Date nets to zero.
Balance-sheet accounts in Year To Date carry forward from the financial start (or the last closed year). Profit-and-loss accounts in Year To Date are the movement for the year, not a lifetime total. Retained earnings holds profit from before Start Date.
After you import or type opening balances, the trial balance matches the old books only after the generate Save on Maintain Opening Balance. Red debtor, creditor, and stock rows come from past invoices and stock value, not from typing those control accounts.
An unbalanced trial balance means a journal or import is one-sided, a control account was typed by hand, or retained earnings or stock was skipped. Fix the source, then run this report again. Do not force the report to balance.

Debit and credit totals differ. Open the odd account (double-click) and find the one-sided journal or a typed control account on opening balance.
Debtors, creditors, or stock are zero or wrong. Finish past invoices and stock value, then Save opening balance again.
Please setup Retain Earning on a related report. Add an active Retain Earning sub-account on the chart of accounts, then search again.
Old year looks empty. Tick Financial Year and pick the closed year. See Year-end closing.
Double-click does nothing. Click the debit or credit figure, not the account name.

Opening balance — the generate Save.
Ledger report — from a double-click.
Profit and loss and Balance sheet — built from the same postings.
Month-end close and Year-end closing — run this report before you lock a month or close a year.