Reading the trial balance

The trial balance is the one-page proof that your books balance. It lists every account with its total debits, total credits, and net balance, plus a check that the grand totals match.

How to read it

Each row is one account from the chart of accounts (Cash, Rent receivable, Rental income, each expense account, and so on). For each account you see:

• Debits and Credits totalled across every entry on that account.
• Balance = debits minus credits. A positive number is a debit balance (assets and expenses sit here), a negative number is a credit balance (income and what you owe).

At the bottom, the total debits and total credits are shown side by side. When they are equal, the books balance and you will see a clear "Books balance" indicator.

What the accounts mean

• Cash is the money that has actually arrived.
• Rent receivable is what tenants owe but have not paid yet. It ties exactly to the outstanding balance you see on leases. An overpaid lease can show as a credit (negative) here.
• Rental income is the rent you have charged.
• The expense accounts total what you have spent by category, matching your T776 lines.

If the books do not balance

In normal use they always balance, because every entry records both sides at once. If the indicator ever shows the books do not balance, do not try to fix figures by hand. Run the integrity check from the General ledger page (it confirms nothing has been tampered with) and contact support. A corrected figure is always recorded as a reversing entry, never an edit, so nothing is ever lost.

Hand it to your accountant

Use Export for your accountant (in your data export) to download the trial balance, the full general-ledger listing with running balances, and the change history as CSV files. See "Export for your accountant".