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Trial Balance

Trial Balance Software — Debits Must Equal Credits

Your trial balance generates automatically from your general ledger. Verify that total debits equal total credits before closing any period.

Trial Balance: The Foundation of Accurate Financial Statements

What it does: A trial balance lists every GL account with its debit or credit balance. If total debits = total credits, your books are mathematically correct.

Example: You have $42,500 in Cash (debit), $8,750 in AR (debit), $3,250 in GST Collected (credit), and $48,000 in Revenue (credit). Total Debits = $51,250. Total Credits = $51,250. Your books balance.

With iBill: Your trial balance is generated in real time from your GL journal entries. No manual calculations. Export to PDF or Excel for your accountant or CRA audit.

What is a Trial Balance?

A trial balance is the checkpoint that proves your books are accurate before you prepare financial statements

Unadjusted Trial Balance

The unadjusted trial balance is prepared after all regular transactions are recorded but before adjusting entries. It lists every GL account with its running balance and verifies that total debits equal total credits. This is your first check that no entries were recorded incorrectly.

Adjusted Trial Balance

After posting adjusting entries — such as CCA depreciation, accrued expenses, and prepaid allocations — you run the adjusted trial balance. This version includes all adjustments and serves as the direct source for preparing your income statement and balance sheet.

Post-Closing Trial Balance

After closing temporary accounts (revenue, expenses) to retained earnings at year-end, the post-closing trial balance confirms only permanent accounts remain. It becomes the opening balances for the next fiscal year and is a key document for double-entry accounting integrity.

Trial Balance Features

Everything you need to verify, review, and export your trial balance — all powered by your general ledger

Real-Time Debit/Credit Totals

Your trial balance updates the moment you post a journal entry. Total debits and total credits are always current — you never need to wait for a batch process or month-end close to check if your books balance.

Auto-Generated from GL

iBill generates your trial balance directly from your general ledger journal entries. Every payment, expense, depreciation entry, and tax posting flows into the correct accounts — no manual data entry or spreadsheets needed.

Adjusted Trial Balance

Post your adjusting entries — CCA depreciation, prepaid allocations, accrued expenses — then run the adjusted trial balance. This is the version your accountant uses to prepare your financial statements.

Post-Closing Trial Balance

After year-end closing entries zero out revenue and expense accounts, the post-closing trial balance confirms only permanent accounts (assets, liabilities, equity) carry forward. It becomes your opening balances for the new fiscal year.

Export to PDF & Excel

Export your trial balance to a professional PDF for your accountant or to Excel for further analysis. Both formats include all GL accounts with their debit/credit balances, totals, and the report date for CRA record-keeping compliance.

CRA Audit-Ready

iBill uses double-entry accounting with a full audit trail. Every journal entry is numbered, dated, and traceable. Your trial balance proves mathematical accuracy — exactly what the CRA expects under ITA section 230.

Generate Your Trial Balance Automatically

Every journal entry flows into your trial balance in real time. Debits always equal credits. No spreadsheets, no manual calculations.

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Trial Balance Example

A sample trial balance showing how every GL account is listed with its debit or credit balance

Sample Business — Trial Balance

As at March 7, 2026

Account
Debit
Credit
1100 — Accounts Receivable
$8,750.00
1200 — Cash and Bank
$42,500.00
1600 — Capital Assets
$50,000.00
1610 — Accumulated Depreciation
$14,200.00
2110 — GST/HST Collected
$3,250.00
2400 — Unearned Revenue
$2,000.00
3100 — Owner's Capital
$25,000.00
4000 — Revenue
$72,300.00
5000 — Cost of Goods Sold
$8,200.00
6000 — Operating Expenses
$7,300.00
TOTALS
$116,750.00
$116,750.00

Total Debits = Total Credits: $116,750.00 = $116,750.00. When debits equal credits, your books are mathematically accurate. iBill enforces this through double-entry accounting — every journal entry must balance before it can be posted.

How the Trial Balance Connects to Your Financial Statements

The trial balance is the bridge between your general ledger and your final reports

General Ledger to Trial Balance

Every journal entry in your general ledger posts debits and credits to specific GL accounts. The trial balance aggregates all of these entries into a single report showing each account's net balance. If an error was made in any entry, the trial balance will not balance.

Trial Balance to Income Statement

Revenue accounts (4000-series) and expense accounts (5000-6000 series) from your trial balance flow directly into your income statement. The difference between revenue and expenses is your net income — a key figure that also appears on your balance sheet as retained earnings.

Trial Balance to Balance Sheet

Asset accounts (1000-series), liability accounts (2000-series), and equity accounts (3000-series) from your trial balance flow directly into your balance sheet. The trial balance confirms Assets = Liabilities + Equity before you generate the final report.

Chart of Accounts Foundation

Your trial balance is only as good as your chart of accounts. iBill seeds a standard Canadian chart of accounts when you start — assets (1000s), liabilities (2000s), equity (3000s), revenue (4000s), and expenses (5000-6000s) — so your trial balance is organized correctly from day one.

Trial Balance FAQs

What is a trial balance?
A trial balance is a bookkeeping report that lists the closing balances of all general ledger accounts at a specific date. It has two columns — debits and credits — and the totals must be equal. If they don't balance, there is an error in the journal entries that needs to be found and corrected before preparing financial statements.
How does iBill generate a trial balance automatically?
iBill generates your trial balance directly from your general ledger journal entries. Every payment, expense, depreciation entry, and tax posting is recorded as a balanced debit-credit pair. The trial balance pulls each account's net balance in real time — no manual calculations or spreadsheets required.
What is the difference between an adjusted and unadjusted trial balance?
An unadjusted trial balance is prepared before adjusting entries (accruals, deferrals, depreciation). An adjusted trial balance is prepared after all adjusting entries are posted. The adjusted trial balance is the basis for preparing your income statement and balance sheet. iBill supports both — run your trial balance before or after posting adjusting entries.
Does the CRA require a trial balance for audits?
While the CRA does not specifically mandate a trial balance report, section 230 of the Income Tax Act requires adequate books and records. A trial balance proves your books are mathematically accurate — debits equal credits — and is standard documentation auditors expect. iBill's trial balance with full audit trail satisfies CRA record-keeping requirements.
How often should I run a trial balance?
Best practice is to run a trial balance at the end of every month before closing the period. You should also run one before preparing financial statements, before filing GST/HST returns, and at fiscal year-end. With iBill, your trial balance is always available in real time — there's no limit on checking it as often as you like.

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