Trial Balance

A trial balance is a bookkeeping tool used to check whether your books are balanced. It lists every account in your general ledger along with its debit or credit balance. The key rule: total debits must equal total credits.

If they do not match, there is an error somewhere — maybe a transaction was recorded in the wrong account, a number was entered incorrectly, or an entry was missed entirely.

Think of it as a quick health check for your accounting records. It does not guarantee everything is perfect, but it is an essential step in the accounting cycle.