Trial Balance

This guide explains how an ADMIN can run, read, and investigate the Trial Balance without assuming an accounting background. For a comparison of all reports, read Financial Reports. For unfamiliar terms, use the Glossary.

What The Trial Balance Answers

Open Accounting Reports > Trial Balance, route /financial-statements/trial-balance.

The Trial Balance summarizes every recorded account in BDT for one selected range. It answers three separate questions:

Did balances brought into the range have equal debits and credits?
Did postings during the range have equal debits and credits?
Do balances at the end of the range have equal debits and credits?

Warning: A balanced Trial Balance does not prove that every transaction was entered, dated correctly, assigned to the right account, supported by evidence, or treated correctly for tax, VAT, audit, or statutory reporting.

Only posted ledger transactions appear. Saving a draft document is not enough. The Report scope notice on the page describes this boundary.

Report Controls

The Report controls card contains Fiscal year, Accounting period, From, To, Apply, Hierarchy, and Show zero balances.

Fiscal Year

Select a named year under Fiscal year to run the complete fiscal year. The screen fills From and To with that year’s boundaries and makes its periods available under Accounting period.

Select Custom dates when you do not want a fiscal-year selector attached to the report.

Accounting Period

Select a named month under Accounting period to use that period’s complete date range. A period must belong to the selected fiscal year.

The period list appears after a fiscal year is selected. Select Custom dates to remove the period selection while retaining the fiscal-year context.

Custom Dates

Enter both From and To, then select Apply. The button remains disabled until both dates are present and From is not later than To.

The dates are inclusive. For example, From 2026-08-01 and To 2026-08-31 include postings dated on both 1 August and 31 August.

The rules are:

From and To must be supplied together.
From cannot be later than To.
If a fiscal year is selected, custom dates must stay within that year.
If an accounting period is selected, custom dates must stay within that period.
A selected accounting period must belong to the selected fiscal year.
Custom dates without a year or period are valid when both dates are complete.

If the range is outside the selected container, the report reports: Custom date range must be contained in the selected period or fiscal year.

Current Default

When the page is opened without saved report parameters, it shows the current UTC calendar month, from the first through the last day, with Show zero balances off. If a report is requested without a fiscal year, period, or custom range, the current accounting period containing today’s UTC date is used; if no such period exists, select or generate a fiscal calendar or provide a complete custom range.

Hierarchy

Use Hierarchy to choose Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3.

Choice	What is shown
Level 1	Top-level account groups, such as Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, and Expenses.
Level 2	The next account level, plus any top-level account that is already a final account. Direct postings to a top-level parent are kept in a separate direct row.
Level 3	Final accounts at the most detailed report level. Direct postings to any parent are kept in separate direct rows.

Changing the level changes presentation, not the report’s grand totals. The default level comes from Default Report Hierarchy in Accounting Settings.

Show Zero Balances

Turn on Show zero balances to include accounts at the selected hierarchy level whose six amounts are all zero. Leave it off for a shorter review focused on accounts with a balance or movement.

This control changes visible rows only. It does not change totals.

Reading The Six Columns

The table groups six monetary columns under Opening, Period movement, and Closing. Each group has Debit and Credit.

Column	Meaning
Opening Debit	Net debit balance from postings dated before From.
Opening Credit	Net credit balance from postings dated before From.
Period movement Debit	Gross debits posted from From through To.
Period movement Credit	Gross credits posted from From through To.
Closing Debit	Net debit balance at the end of To.
Closing Credit	Net credit balance at the end of To.

Period movement is gross activity, not the net difference. A BDT 100,000 debit and BDT 100,000 credit to one account during the range therefore show in both movement columns even if its closing balance is zero.

The sticky Totals row presents totals for all six columns. Rolled parent rows are not added again, so hierarchy does not double-count balances.

Row Types

Rolled Account Rows

A normal account row at a summary level combines the direct balances of accounts in that part of the chart. Select the linked account name to open a Group Ledger over the same dates.

Direct Rows

A row marked Direct preserves amounts posted directly to a parent account. This prevents parent postings from being mistaken for child-account activity. Select its account name to open Leaf Ledger, which shows only postings made directly to that selected account.

Parent postings are normally a readiness concern because parent accounts are usually intended to organize final accounts. Investigate the source before deciding whether a correction is required.

Unresolved Rows

A row marked Unresolved means a posting refers to an account that is missing from the current Chart of Accounts. Its amount remains in totals and reconciliation; it is never silently discarded.

An unresolved row has no General Ledger link because there is no current account record to open. Treat the warning as a data-integrity issue and involve the system administrator and CA.

The Three Reconciliations

Above the table, the page shows:

Opening Debit = Credit
Period Debit = Credit
Closing Debit = Credit

Each card displays Difference. A balanced card has a zero difference.

These controls are independent. For example, opening may balance while a malformed manual posting makes period movement and closing out of balance. The report does not force or conceal equality.

If any check fails, the page warns:

Trial balance is out of balance. Review the differences and integrity warnings before relying on this report.

Do not export an out-of-balance report as if it were approved. Investigate the difference and retain the explanation or correction evidence.

Continuing BDT 100,000 / 150,000 Example

Assume there are no opening balances and all six events occur within the selected range:

Event	Debit movement	Credit movement
Receive inventory	Inventory 100,000	Goods Received Not Invoiced 100,000
Post supplier bill	Goods Received Not Invoiced 100,000	Accounts Payable 100,000
Pay supplier	Accounts Payable 100,000	Bank 100,000
Dispatch inventory	Cost of Goods Sold 100,000	Inventory 100,000
Post customer invoice	Accounts Receivable 150,000	Revenue 150,000
Receive customer payment	Bank 150,000	Accounts Receivable 150,000

The expected Period movement totals are BDT 700,000 Debit and BDT 700,000 Credit. Inventory, Goods Received Not Invoiced, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable close at zero. The remaining simplified closing balances are:

Bank: BDT 50,000 Debit;
Cost of Goods Sold: BDT 100,000 Debit; and
Revenue: BDT 150,000 Credit.

The expected Closing totals are therefore BDT 150,000 Debit and BDT 150,000 Credit. The BDT 50,000 difference between revenue and cost is the cycle’s gross profit before other expenses and taxes.

If the range starts after inventory receipt, that receipt is no longer period movement. Its net effect is carried into Opening instead. Always confirm dates before treating a changed column as an error.

Drill To General Ledger

Select a linked account name in the Trial Balance. The application opens General Ledger with the Trial Balance From and To dates preserved.

A rolled account row opens Group Ledger for its account subtree.
A Direct row opens Leaf Ledger for postings directly to that account.
A final account row can be reviewed through its linked ledger.
An Unresolved row cannot link to a ledger.

In the ledger, inspect the date, source, memo, debit, credit, and running balance, then follow available source links to the business document or manual journal.

Readiness Observations

The Readiness observations box can show relevant non-passing checks for parent postings, opening balances, journal balance, Trial Balance balance, or posting dates outside configured periods.

Readiness is advisory on this report. It does not alter Trial Balance amounts and does not replace the three reconciliation cards. A report can balance while still having a readiness warning, and a PASS readiness result does not constitute CA approval.

Open Accounting Readiness, investigate every applicable BLOCKER, and discuss WARNING findings with the CA.

Export CSV Or PDF

Review the on-screen range, hierarchy, warnings, rows, and reconciliations first. Then use:

CSV for the complete filtered data set in spreadsheet-ready form; or
Download PDF for an A4 landscape report suitable for review and retention.

Both exports use the same selected report and include all matching rows, not only the currently visible part of the scrollable table. Configure a nonblank company name in Company Settings before exporting.

Possible export messages include CSV download failed, PDF download unavailable, and PDF download failed. If PDF is unavailable, follow the displayed instruction to set a company name. Do not rename or edit an export and treat the edited file as an application-generated report.

See Exports And CA Handover for retention and handover controls.

Investigation Steps

Use this sequence whenever an amount is unexpected or a reconciliation fails:

Confirm Fiscal year, Accounting period, From, and To. Check that the range includes the intended business dates.
Confirm the expected source document reached its posting state. Draft and merely confirmed operational documents may have no accounting posting.
Review Opening Debit = Credit, Period Debit = Credit, and Closing Debit = Credit separately. Record which difference is nonzero.
Read every Readiness observations and Unresolved account warning.
Change Hierarchy only to expose more detail. Do not use hierarchy to choose a preferred total.
Select the affected account link and review its General Ledger over the same dates.
Follow the ledger’s source link to the business document or manual journal.
Check for direct parent postings, adjustment evidence, cancellations, original postings, and compensating reversals.
Correct the source through its supported cancellation or reversal workflow, or post a CA-approved adjustment. Never alter an exported spreadsheet as the fix.
Rerun the Trial Balance, confirm all expected effects, and retain the reviewed export and supporting evidence.

Troubleshooting

Message or symptom	What to check
Error loading trial balance	Read the displayed error, correct the selector or calendar problem, then select Retry.
A fiscal year, accounting period, or complete date range is required	Select a year or period, or enter both From and To. Confirm a current accounting period exists if relying on the current default.
Accounting period does not belong to the selected fiscal year	Select the fiscal year first, then choose one of the periods listed for it.
Custom date range must be contained in the selected period or fiscal year	Narrow the dates or switch the relevant selector to Custom dates before applying a standalone range.
No balances for the selected range.	Check dates, confirm documents were posted, and temporarily turn on Show zero balances if you need to inspect empty report rows.
Totals appear to change with Hierarchy	Stop and confirm dates, unresolved warnings, and that you are comparing the same report. Hierarchy must not change grand totals.
A Direct row appears	Drill to Leaf Ledger and identify postings made directly to the parent account. Review the chart design and source with the CA.
An Unresolved row appears	Preserve the warning and amount. Ask the system administrator to investigate the missing account; no ledger drill link is available.
Opening balances are unexpected	Determine whether the posting date is before From, then review opening-balance imports, prior periods, reversals, and the account ledger.
Period movement balances but closing does not	Investigate opening reconciliation first. A brought-forward difference can remain even when current movement balances.

Return to the Accounting User Guides index.

Reviewed against the application on: 2026-08-21