However, a trial balance cannot detect bookkeeping errors that are not simple mathematical mistakes. That way, you are prepared to enter accurate information into the financial statements. Another thing to observe is that as expected we do not see any temporary account balances in the post-closing trial balance.

This makes sure that your beginning balances for the next accounting cycle are accurate. Additionally, the post-closing trial balance will have a retained earnings account which contains the balances of all temporary accounts that have been closed out. Another peculiar thing about Bob’s post-closing trial balance is that normally a retained earnings account will have a credit balance, but in Bob’s books, it has a debit balance. The reason is that Bob did not make a profit in the first month of his operations.

Post-Closing Trial Balance vs Other Trial Balances

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When the post-closing trial balance is run, the zero balance temporary accounts will not appear. However, all the other accounts having non-negative balances are listed, including the retained earnings account. As with the trial balance, the purpose of the post-closing trial balance is to ensure that debits equal credits. Alright, so now let’s look at the post closing trial balance. This is the freshest one with nothing in our income statement accounts.

Post-Closing Trial Balance Example

That makes it much easier to create accurate financial statements. Preparing a post-closing trial balance is an important step in the accounting cycle. Completed after closing entries, the post-closing trial balance prepares your accounts for the next period.

All of the above tests whether all debits equal all credits. The ninth, and typically final, step of the process is to prepare a post-closing trial balance. The word “post” in this instance means “after.” You are preparing a trial balanceafter the closing entries are complete. A post-closing trial balance is a report that is run to verify that all temporary accounts have been closed and their beginning balance reset to zero.

Requirements for a Trial Balance

However, this does not mean that there are no errors in a company’s accounting system. For example, transactions classified improperly or those simply missing from the system still could be material accounting errors that would not be detected by the trial balance procedure. The post-closing trial balance, the last step in the accounting cycle, helps prepare your general ledger for the new accounting period. It closes out balances in both expense and revenue accounts, which allows you to start tracking these totals again in the new accounting period.

• If these two don’t equal, there is either a problem with closing entries or theadjusted trial balance.
• Also, the revenue, expense, income summary and owner’s drawing accounts will not appear on a post-closing trial balance since these accounts will not carry a balance after the accounting cycle has ended.
• All businesses have adjusting entries that they’ll need to make before closing the accounting period.
• Preparing the post-closing trial balance will follow the same process as the adjusted trial balance, but with one additional step.
• Adjust the asset accounts to their correct, current balances.

The word “post” in this instance means “after.” You are preparing a trial balance after the closing entries are complete. Do you notice that not all accounts show up on the post-closing trial balance? The answer is because only the a post-closing trial balance will show permanent accounts of a company show up on the report. Other than the post-closing trial balance, there are two other trial balances with their own unique characteristics; unadjusted trial balance and adjusted trial balance.

Why Is It Necessary to Complete an Adjusted Trial Balance?

Unlike previous trial balances, the retained earnings figure is included, which was obtained through the closing process. The post-closing trial balance will just be one number that shows the closing balance for all permanent accounts. The adjust trial balance shows temporary accounts balance and post-closing entries that needed to be made to prepare for the final trial balance sheet. The purpose of a trial balance is to prove that the value of all the debit value balances equals the total of all the credit value balances. If the total of the debit column does not equal the total value of the credit column then this would show that there is an error in the nominal ledger accounts.

• That is why it does not guarantee that there are no errors.
• Important to note here that the temporary accounts or nominal account, or , which are closed at the end year are not exposed on the post-closing trial balance.
• The last thing that occurs at the end of the accounting cycle is to prepare a post-closing trial balance.
• We can observe the difference between the adjusted trial balance and the post-closing trial balance.
• Running a trial balance is a must for anyone manually recording financial transactions since it helps to make sure that debits and credits are in balance — which is the core principle of double-entry accounting.

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As balance sheet entries are listed in the trial balance, it is done similarly to the balance sheet with first assets, then liabilities, and then equity. Both the debits and credit totals are calculated at the end, and if these are not equal, one can know there must have been some mistake in preparing the trial balance. This post-closing trial balance helps in checking the accuracy of permanent ledger account balance.