Why is my trial balance out of balance?
When you run the trial balance report, if it seems to be out of balance, it is often because there is activity on an inactive account. To learn how that can happen, click here.
To ensure your report is balanced, you must run the report with the Include Inactive History Accounts marked.
This option is near the bottom of the configure report screen under the Report Options section.
Once the option is marked, the Credits and Debits will likely match.
How can there be activity on an inactive history account?
- The only time an account may be archived is when it has a balance of zero.
- After it is archived, there can be no new activity in that account.
- When reports are run, only active accounts are included by default.
- Sometimes, reports are run for a historical time period when the account had been active. However, unless the option to include inactive history accounts is marked, those transactions will not be included on the report and the report will be out-of-balance.
Updated