Trial Balance
The Trial Balance is a summary of all the ledger balances. It helps in checking whether the transactions are correct and balanced. If the journal entries are error-free and posted correctly to the general ledger, the total of all debit balances should be equal the total of all credit balances in Trial Balance. The Trial Balance in TallyPrime gives you the flexibility of viewing the report as per your business requirements. You can choose to include the Opening Balance while viewing the report or not. Similarly, varied configurations within the report allows you to view different aspects of the accounts. With this report, you will be able to detect the reason for any differences occurring in the balances and adjust the ledger accounts accordingly. The impact of Receipt/Delivery notes with tracking number is also visible in the Trial Balance. You can also view the Trial Balance according to groups or ledgers in your books.
Preparing a Trial Balance report during the manual bookkeeping days was a tedious task. In case of any mismatch in the Trial Balance, you had to check the ledgers and maintain the correctness of the accounts manually. Now, with TallyPrime, the Trial Balance will be at your fingertips. In case a mismatch arises, a generic line appears in the Trial Balance stating the reason for the difference in balances. You can prepare the Trial Balance periodically for your company, for example, at the end of a quarter or financial year. This will ensure that the entries in your books are mathematically correct. You can easily spot any errors or discrepancies and make necessary adjustments. For example, when there is a difference in Opening Balances, a statement appears in the Trial Balance which can be further used to check which ledger’s Opening Balance was updated incorrectly or if a ledger creation was not considered at all. Such differences occur when you move the ledger balances from a manual system to TallyPrime for the first time. Varied configurations present in the report will allow you to view the Trial Balance as per your requirements.
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View Trial Balance
By default, the report Trial Balance in TallyPrime will be generated as on the date of the last voucher entry. You can change the date to view the report for the required period. Let’s suppose you want to view the Trial Balance for April 2020 to March 2021,
- Press Alt+G (Go To)> type or select Trial Balance> press Enter.
Alternatively, Gateway of Tally > Display More Reports > Trial Balance.
There are varied configurations in the F12 (Configure) section of the Trial Balance that allow you to view the report as per your requirements. For instance, you might want the Opening Balance of this financial year to appear in the Trial Balance report, so that you can tally it with the Closing Balance of the previous financial year. To view Opening Balance in the Trial Balance,
- In the Trial Balance, press F12 (Configure)> Show Opening Balance> Yes.
You can view the details of the Opening Balance and Closing Balance side-by-side. - Similarly, you can also view transaction details in the Trial Balance report. Let us assume that you have traded with a particular party, wherein you made purchases as well as sales with that party.
Press F12 (Configure) > set Show Transactions to Yes.
You will see the Debit as well as Credit details of the particular party.
- Set the Nett Transactions to Yes to merge the debit and credit sides.
If the debit is more than the credit or vice-versa, you will be able to see a Nett amount in the Trial Balance after adjustment.
With this information, you will be able to determine if you need to pay the party or receive payment from them. - Closing stock: As per accounting principles, the Trial Balance does not display the closing stock. The closing stock is the balance of unsold goods that are left from the purchases made during an accounting period. The value of the total purchases is already included in the Trial Balance. If closing stock is included in the Trial Balance, then the effect will be doubled.
Balancing Difference in Opening Balances
While providing the opening balance in ledgers, an equivalent contrary balance will appear as Difference in opening balances in order to tally the assets and liabilities, or debit and credit balances. The entry passed for the difference will affect the closing balance, but the Trial Balance will still display the difference in the amount.
Let’s suppose that while passing the transactions, the Opening Balance in one of your creditor’s accounts was not recorded. This could be the reason for the Difference in opening balances in the Trial Balance. In this case, create the creditor account under Sundry Creditors and enter the amount mentioned in the Difference in opening balances as the Opening Balance in the party ledger. If the Difference in opening balances is Rs. 875000/- on the Debit side, you can adjust it with Rs 875000/- of Credit in the Opening Balance of that party ledger.
To adjust the difference in Opening Balance:
- Press Alt+G (Go To)> type or select Trial Balance> press Enter.
Alternatively, Gateway of Tally > Display More Reports > Trial Balance.
The Difference in Opening Balances appears in the report.
- Go to Create Master >Ledger.
- Create a party ledger under Sundry Creditors and enter the amount in the Opening Balance field.
- Accept the screen or press Ctrl+A to save the details.
The total Opening Balances in the Debit and Credit sides are balanced.
Next time you open the Trial Balance, you get a tallied report of the balances. Similarly, you can check the Difference in opening balances and update the ledger value as needed in other ways as well. For instance, it could happen that you missed entering the Opening Balance in one of the ledger accounts or you entered an incorrect Opening Balance in them. You can go to the Ledger Alteration screen and adjust the Difference in opening balances in these accounts.
Receipt Notes in Trial Balance
Let’s suppose you purchased goods from a party, and they seemed fine when you received them. As an acceptance of the goods, you issue a Receipt Note. But when the Receipt Note is entered with a tracking number, it affects the Trial Balance. To see how this affects the Trial Balance,
- Press Alt+G (Go To)> type or select Trial Balance> press Enter.
Alternatively, Gateway of Tally > Display More Reports > Trial Balance. - Press F5 (Ledger-wise) to view the ledger-wise report.
The value of the Purchase Accounts (Bills to Come) is displayed in the Debit field. The receipt note transaction does not affect the books of accounts when it is entered with a tracking number since it is an inventory transaction and not an accounting entry. There will be an increase only in the stock quantity and stock value. The Purchase Bills to Come (under Credit) represents the stock for which a receipt note is entered, but the purchase voucher is not yet accounted.
Similarly, you might have sold some goods to a party and sent it along with the Delivery Note. In this case, the value of the goods will appear under Sales Bill to Make as the sales bill was not issued at that time.
Group/Ledger-Wise Trial Balance
You might want to cross-verify the opening balance ledgers to adjust the difference in Opening Balance. By default, a group-wise view of the Trial Balance appears. You can view Trial Balance in TallyPrime according to the groups or the ledgers in your books by converting it into a ledger-wise report or back into a group-wise report. To do so,
- Press Alt+G (Go To)> type or select Trial Balance> press Enter.
Alternatively, Gateway of Tally > Display More Reports > Trial Balance.
- Press F5 (Ledger-wise) to view the ledger-wise report. To return back to the Group-wise report, press F5 again.
- For a detailed format of the Trial Balance, press Alt+F5 (Detailed).
- Press F12 (Configure) > set Expand all levels in Detailed format to Yes. The group-wise Trial Balance appears in the expanded format. This configuration will expand even those groups, for which Group behaves like a Sub-ledger is set to Yes.
By default, the option Group behaves like a sub-ledger is set to Yes for Sundry Debtors/Sundry Creditors. However, if you want the Sundry Creditors/Sundry Debtors groups to be expanded, go to Group Alteration and set Group behaves like a sub-ledger to No.
To know more about Group behaves like a sub-ledger, go to Groups in TallyPrime
