Accounting Dictionary

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Trial Balance

Definition: The trial balance is a report listing the ending debit and credit balances in all accounts at the end of a reporting period. The trial balance has three uses:

• Debits equal credits. The total of all debits should equal the total of all credits, resulting a report balance of zero.
• Worksheet. Depending on the report format, the trial balance can be used as a worksheet for planning adjusting entries.
• Source of financial statements. The information on the report can be aggregated to create the financial statements, though accounting software handles this task automatically.