How to Enter a Trial Balance on a Worksheet

If you're worried about balancing your company's ledger, you can always hire an accountant.

A trial balance is a bookkeeper's tool for arranging ledger balances into a T-chart with credits and debits. Most companies generate trial balances at the end of each quarter. Putting these trial balances into worksheet form is akin to an individual balancing his checkbook in order to make sure that all entries are correct. As long as total debits and total credits come to the same amount, the trial balance is valid.

Instructions

1. Set up six T-charts, left to right across your bookkeeping worksheet, as you prepare to make your financial statements for a given reporting period. Write "Debits" on the left and "Credits" on the right of each T-chart. Then label the charts "Trial Balance," "Adjustments," "Adjusted Trial Balance," "Income Statement" and "Balance Sheet."

2. Label the first three rows "Cash," "Accounts Receivable" and "PPE." PPE stands for Property, Plant and Equipment. Write the values for those under the debit column in the correct rows.

3. Label the next five rows "Accounts Payable," "Notes Payable," "Capital Stock," "Lost Revenue" and "Service Revenue." Enter the amounts that correspond to those categories under the "Credits" column.

4. Add your expenses in the debit column now. These would include payroll for salaries, advertising expenses, driving expenses, and dividends paid. Enter the amounts that correspond to those categories in the debit column.

5. Add up the "Debits" and "Credits" columns and write the sums at the bottom of each. If the two sums aren't the same, you have some errors to fix.

References

• Principles of Accounting: Trial Balance
• Investopedia: Trial Balance