a trial balance

Meanings

1. 1nouncountablebusinessfinance

   A statement listing all the balances in a company's accounts to check that total debits equal total credits.

   Grammar: Countable: 'a trial balance', 'prepare two trial balances'. Often used with 'prepare' or 'extract'.

   Patterns

   • prepare a trial balance
   • extract a trial balance
   • a trial balance sheet

   The accountant prepared a trial balance at the end of the month.

   If the trial balance doesn't balance, there may be a math error in the ledger.

   The trial balance showed that total debits equaled total credits.

2. 2nounsingularbusinessfinance

   The process or act of checking account balances in this way.

   Grammar: Usually with 'the': 'the trial balance was completed'. Refers to the activity, not the document.

   Patterns

   • do a trial balance
   • complete the trial balance

   We do a trial balance every quarter to catch errors early.

   The trial balance took longer than expected because of missing receipts.

Word forms

Common combinations

prepare a trial balance

She prepared a trial balance before closing the books.

extract a trial balance

The software can extract a trial balance automatically.

a trial balance sheet

The trial balance sheet is different from the balance sheet.

the trial balance doesn't balance

If the trial balance doesn't balance, check for transposed numbers.

Synonyms and how they differ

balance check

A general term for checking that accounts balance; 'trial balance' is the specific accounting document or procedure.

Word family

trial noun

A test or attempt; here it means a test of the accounts.

balance noun

The amount left in an account, or equality between debits and credits.

Commonly confused: a trial balance or balance sheet?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “a trial balance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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