Data Management

Trial Balance

A guide to Trial Balance in Fynapse.

Overview

A trial balance is an accounting report that lists balances for all Accounts in a system at a specific point in time, typically at the end of a period. It shows each Account’s closing balance - one column for credits and a second for debits - that allows you to verify that total debits equal total credits

Why Do We Need Trial Balance?

The primary purpose of a trial balance is to check the mathematical accuracy of the equality of debits and credits after posting. Because accounting follows the double-entry system, the totals should balance if Journals have been posted correctly.

Key Characteristics

  • Available after all Journals were properly posted to the Subledger
  • Includes all Accounts from the Chart of Accounts

Please note that the Accounts are grouped based on the information in the Financial Statement and Type columns.

  • Aggregated for a selected point in time, by selected dimensions.
  • Does not prove absolute accuracy, it only confirms debit–credit equality

Why It Matters?

The trial balance report provides a proof of a balanced subledger and a high-level overview allowing you to verify whether postings are arithmetically correct and to spot high-magnitude issues. However, is doesn’t guarantee the absence of the following errors:

  1. A transaction is not journalized.
  2. A correct Journal was not posted.
  3. A Journal was posted to an incorrect Account.
  4. Offsetting errors are made in recording the amount of a transaction.

What Is the Value?

Trial balance can be treated as a checkpoint that helps you ensure that the accounts are in balance before you move on to formal financial reporting, such as financial statements.

Prerequisites

For trial balance to work, you need to correctly configure the Chart of Accounts, so that the Accounts are correctly grouped in the report. Use the Financial Statement and Type columns to divide Accounts into Balance sheet and Income Statement and further group them within these categories, e.g. into accounts receivable, accounts payable, tax liabilities, etc.

For more details and a sample Chart of Accounts, refer to Chart of Accounts.

Trial Balance Screen

The Trial balance screen comprises:

  • Report settings - a section which allows you to configure the filters you want to use to create reports
  • Trial balance - the grid with the generated report
  • The display panel - located above the grid, it appears after a report is run and allows you to configure how the data is displayed in the report
  • The Export button - which allows you to export the report into a CVS file

Report Settings

In order to generate a report you have to configure the following settings:

  • Data type - the time period for which Accounts are gathered; by default set to Period end
  • Currency - the currency used in the report
    • When Multiple Currencies functionality is disabled this drop-down contains Transaction currencies
    • When Multiple Currencies functionality is enabled this drop-down contains Reporting currencies
  • Filter - drop-down where you select dimensions from the Dimension set list that will be used to aggregate data

Display Settings

Display settings allow you yo configuration how the data will be displayed in the grid.

It comprises the details of the report, i.e. Dates and Units, and allows you to configure:

  • Reporting currency
  • Negative number format - default set to brackets
    • Brackets
    • Minus sign
  • Units - default set to millions
    • millions
    • thousands
    • whole number
  • Decimal places - default set to 0
    • Range 0-3
  • Columns - select which columns, Debit, Credit, Balance, should be displayed
    • The Debit column shows the sum of all debit records returned by the query criteria
    • The Credit column shows the sum of all credit records returned by the query criteria
    • The Balance column shows the sum total of debit and credit records returned by the query criteria

Tutorials

  1. Go to Reports > Trial Balance.
  2. In the Data section, select the settings for the report:
    1. Data type - the time period for which Accounts are gathered; by default set to Period end
      Depending on the type of time period you specify, you will be prompted to choose either a specific date or a Fiscal Calendar.
      1. Specific date - select a specific date from the calendar
      2. Today - current date
      3. Yesterday - previous date
      4. Previous period end - the end date of the previous period, determined by the selected Fiscal Calendar
      5. Previous year end - the end date of the previous fiscal year, determined by the selected Fiscal Calendar
      6. Specific period end - the end date of a selected period, determined by the selected Fiscal Calendar
    2. Currency - the currency used in the report
      1. When Multiple Currencies functionality is disabled this drop-down contains Transaction currencies
      2. When Multiple Currencies functionality is enabled this drop-down contains Reporting currencies
  3. In the Filter section, from the Attributes drop-down select the dimensions you want to use to aggregate the data. This is optional.
    When you select multiple dimensions, the aggregation is hierarchical based on the top-down order of the dimensions. You can move the dimensions in the hierarchy using the move up and move down arrows. You can also add additional filtering conditions for the dimensions.
  4. Click the Generate report button.