You can choose to use the Trial Balance in your set of books as is, or to customize it. Typically, customizing the Trial Balance involves changing the account names (which are numbered) to correspond to the chart of accounts your organization is currently using. If necessary, you can also delete accounts that you are unlikely to use and add any unique accounts that may be required.
Follow the steps below to examine the Trial Balance and decide whether it needs to be customized.
In the Database Explorer, activate (click on) Trial Balance.
Make sure you are on the Setup view of the report - /REPORT/TB - Accounts, Setup should be displayed in the title bar across the top of the window.
If you are not on the Setup view, click the Accounts tab below the title bar and choose Setup.
Scroll through the report to determine what changes, if any, are required.
To remove accounts that are not needed from the Trial Balance:
On the Setup view of the Trial Balance (see above), click anywhere on the row containing the account that is not needed.
Issue the command Edit Delete or press Ctrl-Y.
Click Delete Item when prompted with OK to delete this item from the database?
To rename accounts on the Trial Balance:
On the Setup view of the Trial Balance (see above), click on the Name field of the account to be renamed.
Type the first number (or character) of the new name for the account. Click Change when prompted with OK to change the Name value? then continue typing the account name.
Move off the Name field to record the change made to the account name.
Continue renaming accounts as described above, until all the desired changes have been made.
Before adding an account to the Trial Balance, you should determine the name of the account on the Income Statement or Balance Sheet to which the new Trial Balance account will total. For example, the Window Cleaning expense account on the Trial Balance totals to the Window Cleaning expense account on the Income Statement. As another example, the Furniture and Equipment asset account totals to the Furniture and Equipment asset account on the Balance Sheet. For more information, see Introduction to Report Arithmetic.
If you are going to add a new expense or revenue account to the Trial Balance, go to the Income Statement and note the name of the account that should reflect the balance of this new account. Similarly, if you are going to add a new asset or liability account to the Trial Balance, go to the Balance Sheet and note the name of the corresponding account.
To add new accounts to the Trial Balance:
On the Setup view of the Trial Balance (see above), click anywhere on the row above which the new account is to be added, then press the Insert key.
Fill in the fields as indicated below.
| Line | The line number is inserted automatically. |
| Folder | For expense accounts: Type the letter e. This will pop up a select box with all the account folders in this set of books, with EXPENSE already selected. Press Enter to enter EXPENSE in this field. For revenue accounts: Type the letter s. This will pop up a select box with all the account folders in this set of books, with SALES already selected. Press Enter to enter SALES in this field. For asset accounts: Type the letter g. This will pop up a select box with all the account folders in this set of books, with GENERAL already selected. Press Enter to enter GENERAL in this field. For liability accounts: Type the letter g. This will pop up a select box with all the account folders in this set of books, with GENERAL already selected. Press Enter to enter GENERAL in this field. |
| Name | Enter the name/number for the account in this field. |
| Description | Enter the description for the account in this field. |
| Amount | 0.00 will be automatically be displayed in this field. |
| Normal Balance | For expense accounts: debit is entered in this field automatically. For revenue accounts: credit is entered in this field automatically. For asset accounts: Press F3 and choose debit. For liability accounts: Press F3 and choose credit. |
| Normal Rep | For expense and revenue accounts: periodic is entered in this field automatically. For asset and liability accounts: Press F3 and choose perpetual. |
| Active | Active is entered in this field automatically. |
| Unique Ref#'s | Leave this field blank. |
| Ledger Indexed | Yes is entered in this field automatically. |
| Totalto1 Name | For asset and liability accounts: Type TB-PROOF to find the Trial Balance Proof in the select box, then press Enter. For expense and revenue accounts: Type 3100 to find the Surplus/(Loss) - Prior Years account in the select box, then press Enter. Note: If you have changed the name of the Surplus/(Loss) - Prior Years account from 3100 to something else, enter that name in the Totalto1 field for the expense/revenue account instead. |
| Totalto2 Name | For asset and liability accounts: Type the name of the corresponding account on the Balance Sheet to find it in the select box, then press Enter. For expense and revenue accounts: Type the name of the corresponding account on the Income Statement to find the account in the select box, then press Enter. |
| Totalto3 Name | Leave this field blank. |
| Totalto4 Name | Leave this field blank. |
| T | Leave this field blank. |
| Report | This field is filled in automatically. |
| Sub Accounts | Leave this field blank. |