Trial balance
Net debit and credit for every account. Sanity check that the books are internally consistent.
The trial balance isn't really a financial statement — it's a sanity check. Every account, with its net debit or credit balance, in a single table. The totals at the bottom must be equal.
If they're not equal, something is broken. In Axerity that should never happen (mutations are atomic and lines must balance), but the report exists so you can verify.
When to use it
- Before closing a period, scan it for obvious anomalies (a huge debit on an unexpected account, etc.).
- When troubleshooting "the balance sheet looks weird" — the trial balance is one level closer to the raw data.
- When handing books off to an accountant — they'll ask for this.
How to read it
Each row shows one account with its net position. An asset account sitting at a debit balance of $5,000 means the account has more total debits than credits, which means the account is "where it should be" for an asset. Same for expenses.
For liabilities, equity, and revenue, a credit balance is "where it should be."
If you ever see an asset account with a credit balance, or a revenue account with a debit balance, it's worth investigating — often a typo'd entry that swapped debit and credit.
Picking a date
Like the balance sheet, the trial balance is point-in-time. The picker defaults to today.