The Trial Balance is one of those accounting terms that sounds more complicated than it is. In simple terms, it's a quick check that your bookkeeping adds up correctly. If your Trial Balance is in balance, you can be confident that the underlying mathematics of your accounts is right. It doesn't guarantee every entry is correctly categorised — but it catches the kind of errors that would otherwise skew all your reports.
What the Trial Balance shows
The Trial Balance lists every account in your Chart of Accounts alongside its current balance — either a debit balance or a credit balance. At the bottom, it totals both columns. In a correct set of books, the total of all debit balances equals the total of all credit balances. That's the 'balance' it's checking.
How to run a Trial Balance in RentalBux
When to run a Trial Balance
Run a Trial Balance at three key moments:
Before each quarterly MTD submission — as a quick sense-check that your figures are mathematically correct
At the end of the tax year — your accountant will typically ask for this as part of year-end review
When you notice an unexpected figure in a report — the Trial Balance can help isolate which account is causing it
RentalBux handles double-entry automatically for all invoices, bills, and bank transactions — which means you should rarely see an out-of-balance Trial Balance. If you do, it usually means a journal entry was entered with only one side, or a manual edit was made to a transaction in an unusual way.