You may have completely forgotten to put the figure from one of your ledger accounts onto the trial balance at all. If this is the case then your debit and credit columns will differ by the figure from that account.
By working out the difference between your debit and credit totals, and then searching for that difference in the original question, you might just spot which account balance you missed out. By inserting it you might get the magic balance you are looking for. If you divide your difference by 2 and then search for that figure, you may spot which account balance you have put on the wrong side of the TB. Sometimes when we are processing lots of figures we can get digits muddled up. Transposition errors are actually quite easy to spot as they always create a difference that divides exactly by 9.
Carefully check each number in your TB to ensure that you have entered each of them correctly. Hopefully those tips and techniques will give you a higher chance of successfully balancing your Trial Balance in your exam and in your dreams! This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
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For instance, the Cash account is an asset account and is on the debit side, while Accounts Payable is a liability and therefore would be placed on the credit side. The debit side and the credit side must balance, meaning the value of the debits should equal the value of the credits. A trial balance will not balance if both sides do not equal, and the reason has to be explored and corrected.
A trial balance might fail to balance for a variety of reasons. For example, if you transposed numbers while posting from the general journal to the general ledger, or from the ledger to the trial balance sheet, this could cause the trial balance to not equal out.
Also, if you made a math error, this can cause a problem too. Or perhaps you credited something that should have been debited or vice versa, or you applied a transaction to the wrong account. If the amount is substantial, start with the larger transactions made during the month and make sure no numbers were transposed and that the transaction was applied to the proper ledger account.
A trick for checking for a transposition error is divide by 9. If the difference between the two sides is divisible by 9. By looking at the trial balance we can now identify that the wages expense account has a credit balance of It is normal for expenses to have a debit balance and therefore by checking the wages expense account we can determine whether this balance had been included on the wrong side of the unbalanced trial balance make the appropriate correction.
If the difference divided by 9 produces a whole number then it may indicate a transposition error where numbers have been entered in reverse e. Suppose for example a balance of had been entered on the trial balance as with the numbers 5 and 9 transposed. By dividing the trial balance error in this case 36 by 9 we arrive at a whole number. This indicates a transposition error, the unbalanced trial balance should now be checked against account balances in the ledger to see whether the error can be identified.
Note: When applying this technique that if the digits of a number add up to 9 then the number itself is divisible by 9. For example if the difference was 2, we can calculate the following. Since the digits of the number add up to 9 then 2, must be divisible by 9 i. A slide error or transplacement error occurs when the decimal point has been entered in the wrong position e. Suppose a balance of 1, By dividing the difference 1, Check the unbalanced trial balance for this amount or for the same numbers with the decimal point shifted e.
Having identified the amount check the balance against the balance in the ledger to make sure there is not a slide error. If the difference contains a 3 it might indicate that a entry error has been made on a numerical key pad.
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