Read the General Ledger and Trial Balance
See every line posted to one account with its running balance, and check that debits equal credits.
Both screens read from the same posted entries. Neither one can be edited. They need access to Reports.
General Ledger
The General Ledger shows one account at a time.
- Open Accounts > Accounting > General Ledger or go to General Ledger.
- Under Choose an account, search by code or name and click the account. (You can also click Ledger next to an account in the Chart of Accounts, or an account name on a journal entry or the trial balance.)
The account page shows the Type, the Closing balance and the number of Lines, then a table of Date, Entry (a link to the journal entry), Source (a link to the invoice, bill or credit note when there is one), Memo, Debit, Credit and Balance, oldest first. Fifty lines show per page.
The balance is debits minus credits so far. It reads Dr for a debit balance and Cr for a credit balance: Cash with 5,000.00 Dr has money in it; Accounts Payable with 2,000.00 Cr means you owe 2,000.00. Only posted entries count; voided ones never appear. Use Choose another account to switch.
If your role is limited to certain branches, a notice tells you the figures cover only your branches.
Trial Balance
The Trial Balance lists every account that has posted activity and its net balance on a date.
- Open Accounts > Accounting > Trial Balance or go to Trial Balance.
- Set As of and click Run report. It starts on today.
The table shows Code, Account (linked to its ledger), Type, Debit and Credit. The Total row adds each column. Below it you see either "Debits equal credits." in green, or "Out of balance by ..." in red. If nothing has been posted up to the date you see "No posted entries up to DATE."
Good to know
- The trial balance is cumulative: it includes everything posted up to and including the date, from the start of your books.
- An out-of-balance company-wide trial balance should not happen, because every entry is checked to balance before it posts.
- For a branch-restricted role the page says the debits and credits may differ "in this branch view, which does not have to balance on its own."
- To see what an account is made of, click through to the entries, or use the Day Book for a single date.