Chapter 5

Checking Your Accuracy

In This Chapter

arrow Putting your balances on trial

arrow Finding and correcting errors

arrow Preparing a worksheet

arrow Generating reports from your computerized system

After you close out all your journals and do your darndest to catch any and all errors (flip to Book IV Chapter 5 for instructions on how to do this), the time comes to test your work. If you’ve entered all double-entry transactions in the books correctly, the books balance out, and your trial’s a success!

Unfortunately, few bookkeepers get their books to balance on the first try. And in some cases, the books balance, but errors still exist. This chapter explains how you do a trial balance of your books and gives tips on finding any errors that may be lurking. You also find out how to take your first step to developing financial reports (explored in Book II’s chapters), by creating a worksheet.

Working with a Trial Balance

When you first start entering transactions in a dual-entry accounting system, you may think, “This is a lot of work, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to use all this information.” ...

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