The trial balance statement is a form in which the total of the debitor and credit accounts and balances of each account in the ledger are added on a regular basis to check whether the credit and debiter are balanced and whether there are any errors in the account records.
Under the credit and debit accounting method, according to the basic principle of double-entry accounting of debits, the trial balance adopts the "T" account method, and sets up two columns: "total debit" and "total credit". "Total Debits" refers to the total amount to the left of all accounts, and "Total Credits" refers to the total amount to the right side of all accounts. There are two types of trial balance: the trial balance of the amount incurred and the trial balance of the balance.
It is a method to check whether the current amount is recorded correctly based on the identity relationship between the total debit amount and the total credit amount of all accounts in the current period. The formula is: the total debit amount of all accounts in the current period = the total amount of credit in the current period of all accounts.
(1) Calculated and filled in according to the balance of the general ledger account
1.Asset-class accounts.
Debit balance at the end of the period = Debit balance at the beginning of the period + Debit amount incurred in the current period - Credit amount incurred in the current period.
2.Liabilities and owners' equity accounts.
Closing Credit Balance = Opening Credit Balance + Current Credit Amount - Current Debit Amount.
(2) Calculate and fill in the details according to the balance of the detailed account
The closing balance of the detailed accounts of the asset account and the liability and owner's equity account can be filled in directly according to the closing balance of each general ledger account to which it belongs.
(3) Fill in the column according to the analysis and calculation of the balance of the general ledger account and the detailed account
The closing balance of the asset class account shall be filled in according to the closing balance of the general ledger account and the closing balance analysis and calculation of each detailed account
1.The "Cash on Hand" item should be entered according to the closing balance of the "Cash on Hand" account.
2.The "Bank Deposits" item should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Bank Deposits" account.
3.The item "Funds in Other Currencies" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Funds in Other Currencies" account.
4.The item "Tradable Financial Assets" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Tradable Financial Assets" account.
5.The item of "Notes Receivable" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Notes Receivable" account, minus the closing balance of the bad debt provision for the relevant notes receivable in the "Bad Debt Provision" account.
6.The item of "accounts receivable" should be filled in according to the total amount of the closing debit balance of each detailed account to which the "accounts receivable" and "accounts receivable" account belong, minus the closing balance of the bad debt provision in the "bad debt provision" account.
7.The item of "Accounts in advance" should be filled in according to the total amount of the debit balance at the end of the period of each detailed account to which the "Accounts in advance" and "Accounts payable" account belong, minus the balance at the end of the provision for bad debts in the "Provision for Bad Debts" account.
8.The item "Interest receivable" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Interest receivable" account, minus the closing balance of the bad debt provision in the "Bad debt provision" account.
9.The item of "Dividends receivable" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Dividends receivable" account, minus the closing balance of the bad debt provision for dividends receivable in the "Bad Debt Provision" account.
10.The item "Other Receivables" should be filled in according to the total debit balances at the end of the period of the detailed accounts to which the "Other Receivables" and "Other Receivables" accounts belong, minus the closing balance of the bad debt provision for other receivables in the "Bad Debt Provision" account.
11.The "Bad Debt Provision" account should be filled in with a "-" sign according to the closing balance of the "Bad Debt Provision" account.
12.The "Material Purchase" item should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Material Purchase" account.
13.The item "Materials in Transit" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Materials in Transit" account.
14.The item of "Raw Materials" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Raw Materials" account, minus the closing balance of the provision for inventory decline in the "Provision for Inventory Decline" account related to raw materials.
15.The "Material Cost Variance" item should be filled in based on the closing balance of the "Material Cost Variance" account.
16.The item "Inventory Goods" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Inventory Goods" account, minus the closing balance of the inventory decline provision in the "Inventory Decline Provision" account.
17.The item "Commodity Purchase and Sales Difference" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Commodity Purchase and Sales Difference" account.
18.The item of "Entrusted Processing Materials" shall be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Entrusted Processing Materials" account, minus the closing balance of the inventory decline provision in the "Inventory Decline Provision" account.
19.The item of "Turnover Materials" shall be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Turnover Materials" account, minus the closing balance of the provision for inventory decline in the "Provision for Inventory Decline" account.
20.The "Provision for Decline in Inventories" account should be filled in with a "-" sign based on the closing balance of the "Provision for Decline in Inventories" account.
21.The item of "debt investment" should be filled in according to the analysis of the closing balance of the relevant detailed accounts of the "debt investment" account. Long-term debt investments maturing within one year from the balance sheet date should be transferred out of the "long-term debt investment" item and included in the "non-current assets maturing within one year" item.
22.The item of "other debt investment" should be filled in according to the analysis of the closing balance of the relevant detailed account of the "other debt investment" account. Long-term debt investments maturing within one year from the balance sheet date should be transferred out of the "long-term debt investment" item and included in the "non-current assets maturing within one year" item.
23.The item of "long-term equity investment" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "long-term equity investment" account, minus the closing balance of the "long-term equity investment impairment provision" account.
24.The "Fixed Assets" item should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Fixed Assets" account, minus the closing balances of the "Accumulated Depreciation" and "Provision for Impairment of Fixed Assets" accounts.
25.For the "Construction in Progress" item, the amount should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Construction in Progress" account, minus the closing balance of the "Construction in Progress Impairment Provision" account.
26.The item "Disposal of Fixed Assets" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Disposal of Fixed Assets" account, and in the case of credit balance, it should be filled in with the sign "-".
27.The item of "engineering materials" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "engineering materials" account.
28.The accounts of "Provision for Impairment of Fixed Assets", "Provision for Impairment of Construction in Progress", "Provision for Impairment of Long-term Equity Investment" and "Provision for Impairment of Investment Real Estate" shall be filled in with a "-" sign according to the total closing balance of each account.
29.The item "Intangible Assets" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "Intangible Assets" account, minus the closing balances of the "Accumulated Amortization" and "Provision for Impairment of Intangible Assets" accounts.
30.The item "Long-term amortized expenses" should be filled in according to the closing balance of the "long-term amortized expenses" account minus the amount to be amortized in one year (including one year).
31.The item of "property loss and excess to be disposed of" should be filled in according to the debit balance at the end of the period of the account "property loss and excess to be disposed of"; If it is a credit balance, it is indicated with a "-" sign.
It is a method to check whether the account records in the current period are correct based on the identity relationship between the total debit balances and the total credit balances of all accounts in the current period. The formula is: the total debit opening balance of all accounts = the total credit opening balance of all accounts; Total Debit Closing Balances for All Accounts = Total Credit Closing Balances for All Accounts.
(1) Preparation of trial balances
In practice, since there are many economic transactions that occur in an enterprise during a certain period of time, in order to prepare the trial balance, the amount and balance of each account should first be filled in the trial balance sheet separately. The trial balance statement is divided into two columns: "debit" and "credit", and each column is divided into three columns according to the accounting account: "opening balance", "current amount" and "closing balance", and each column is divided into "total" columns. When preparing the trial balance, the following four points should be noted:
1.All account balances must be included and must not be left out.
2.In order to facilitate the examination of the correspondence between accounts of different natures, the names of each account should be listed separately in the order of the accounting accounts, and the opening balance, the amount incurred in the current period and the closing balance should be filled in the columns "debit" and "credit" under the name of each account to reflect the full situation of the account.
3.The amounts incurred and balances of each account must be entered in the corresponding columns of the trial balance. In other words, the trial balance statement includes not only the opening balance and closing balance, but also the amount incurred in the current period, so as to fully reflect the entire content of the economic business in the current period.
4.If an account has both an opening balance and a current amount, the opening balance must be added to the current amount to arrive at the closing balance.
(2) The trial balance of the trial balance
1.Total Debit Opening Balances for All Accounts = Total Credit Opening Balances for All Accounts.
2.Total debit incurrence of all accounts = Total debit incursion of all accounts.
3.Total Debit Closing Balances for All Accounts = Total Credit Closing Balances for All Accounts.
If all three balances on the trial balance are true, it means that the account records are correct, otherwise there may be an error, and the cause should be further identified and corrected.
Please note that the trial balance does not provide complete assurance that the accounting account records are error-free. Some mistakes do not affect the balance between the borrower and the borrower, such as:
1.An economic transaction is rewritten or omitted in the relevant account.
2.An economic transaction is incorrectly recorded in the relevant account.
3.An economic transaction is recorded in the accounts, and the direction of bookkeeping is reversed.
4.In the amount of debits or credits, over- or under-crediting occurs occasionally and offsets each other.
These errors cannot be detected with the trial balance, so the trial balance can only guarantee the correctness of the account records to a certain extent, but cannot completely guarantee that the account records are free of errors.
To sum up, the trial balance is an indispensable tool in financial work, and by carefully filling in and analyzing the trial balance, financial personnel can find and correct errors in the bookkeeping process in time to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the accounts. The use of the trial balance not only helps to ensure the correctness of the records of individual accounts, but also to check whether the records of the general ledger accounts are balanced, thus ensuring the correctness of the entire system of books.
By carefully filling out and analyzing the trial balance, we can detect and correct errors in the bookkeeping process in a timely manner, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the accounts. We must also recognize the limitations of trial balances and incorporate other methods and tools to ensure the accuracy and completeness of accounting information. Therefore, as financial personnel, we should continue to learn and improve our professional knowledge and practical ability, so as to better use the trial balance to provide strong support for the financial management and decision-making of enterprises.