Trial Balance Doesn't Balance? Find the Error
Why a trial balance goes out of balance, how the size of the difference points to the cause, and what a balanced trial balance still doesn't prove.
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A trial balance is a list of every ledger account with its debit or credit balance. Because every journal has equal debits and credits, the two columns must total the same. When they don't, there's an error — and the size of the difference tells you where to start looking.
Read the difference first
| If the difference is… | Suspect |
|---|---|
| Divisible by 9 | A transposition (540 keyed as 450) or a slide (decimal in the wrong place) |
| Equal to one amount | A posting with no other half, or an omitted entry |
| Exactly twice an amount | An entry posted to the wrong side (debit instead of credit) |
| Exactly half an amount | The same, found from the other column |
| A round number like 1,000 or 10 | An arithmetic slip, or a digit mistyped |
| Equal to a balance not carried forward | An opening balance not brought in |
One caution: roughly one in nine random differences is divisible by 9, so treat it as a prompt to look, not proof.
A step-by-step routine
- Re-add the columns — including any carried subtotals. Many differences are addition errors.
- Check every balance was transferred from the ledger accounts and to the correct column.
- Look for a single balance equal to the difference (or half of it).
- Check opening balances agree with last period's closing balances.
- Trace recent entries: journals, bank entries and one-sided postings made since the last time it balanced.
- Check suspense accounts — a non-zero suspense balance means something was parked.
- Review the day book totals against the ledger postings.
Errors a trial balance can't catch
A balanced trial balance tells you the arithmetic is right, not that the books are right. It won't reveal:
- Omission of a whole transaction (debit and credit both missing).
- Compensating errors — two mistakes that cancel out.
- Error of principle — recording a capital item as an expense.
- Error of commission — posting to the wrong account of the right type.
- Reversal of entries — debiting and crediting the right accounts backwards.
That is why you follow the trial balance with bank reconciliations, control account reconciliations and analytical review.
Check yours in seconds
Paste your trial balance into the free Trial Balance Checker. It totals both sides, shows the difference, flags accounts with both a debit and a credit, negatives and duplicate names, and gives the hints above. If you need to post a correcting entry, draft it with the Journal Entry Builder and read journal entries explained with examples.
Preventing it
Software that rejects unbalanced journals and posts every document to a double-entry ledger removes the arithmetic problem entirely. Pyalm Books is built on a double-entry ledger with a chart of accounts, manual and recurring journals and period locking, and is free during beta. Spreadsheet-based books are where trial balances most often fail — see when spreadsheets stop being enough.
Standards, rates and deadlines change. Confirm the current position with the relevant authority or a qualified adviser before you rely on it.