AccountingQA Latest Questions

Jayesh Gupta
Jayesh GuptaCurious
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  2. GautamSaxena Curious .
    This answer was edited.

    Errors revealed by Trial Balance Trial balance, as we know, is a statement prepared after the ledger, followed by a journal. It has a list of all the general ledger accounts contained in the ledger of a business. Each nominal ledger account either holds a debit balance or credit. It is primarily useRead more

    Errors revealed by Trial Balance

    Trial balance, as we know, is a statement prepared after the ledger, followed by a journal. It has a list of all the general ledger accounts contained in the ledger of a business. Each nominal ledger account either holds a debit balance or credit.

    It is primarily used to identify the balance of debits and credits entries from the transactions recorded in the general ledger in a certain accounting period. The debit and credit sides total are equal in a trial balance.

    Classification of errors in the trial balance

    • Errors of Commission: Errors arising due to wrong posting of a journal entry, a ledger account, wrong totaling of a subsidiary book, or even wrong recording of accounts. Therefore, resulting in trial balance error. E.g business receives an amount on goods sold on credit but it is instead posted to additional capital a/c.
    • Errors of Omission: This occurs when some transactions are fully or partially omitted from books of accounts. A complete omission is a case when the transaction is completely omitted but a partial omission is seen when the transaction is entered in the journal but not posted to the ledger. E.g a cheque worth $4,100 was received from ABC Ltd. but completely omitted. Then the rectification entry shall be passed later on.
    • Compensating Errors: It occurs when the errors are equal in amount and opposite to each other so and so that they cancel each other which further creates no difference in the Trial Balance. E.g Harry’s account is debited to $300 wrongly instead of $400. On the other hand, Liam’s account is credited by $700 instead of $800.
    • Errors of Principles: These are the errors occurring when the entries that are posted are incorrect, violating the accounting policy. E.g when receiving money from debtor then debiting debtor and crediting the amount of money received.

    Some of the common errors

    Some more (commonly seen) errors while preparation of the trial balance:

    Errors of Commission

    1. Addition or totaling mistakes in the trial balance, debit, and credit side.
    2. Wrong totaling of subsidiary books.
    3. Error in the sum total of subsidiary book.
    4. Posting in the wrong account.
    5. Recording a transaction incorrectly in a journal.
    6. Balance wrote on the wrong side of the trial balance.
    7. Error in posting a journal to a ledger.
    8. Posting on the wrong side of the account.

    Errors of Omission

    1. Goods purchased and returned to the supplier may be entered in the purchase returns book but not posted in the debit of the supplier account.
    2. Cash paid to creditors was completely omitted from the recording.

    Compensating Errors

    • Wrong posting of the same amount in another account, which may not be affecting the equalizing of trial balance.

    Errors of Principles

    1. Posting twice to a ledger account.
    2. Balance c/d or balance b/d is written on the wrong side of the ledger account.
    3. Reversal of a journal entry by mistake like, crediting cash and debiting debtor’s a/c.

     

     

     

     

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Simerpreet
SimerpreetHelpful
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  2. GautamSaxena Curious .
    This answer was edited.

    Ledger posting The process of entering all transactions from journal to ledger is called ledger posting. Each ledger account contains an individual asset, person, revenue, or expense. As we're aware the journal records all the transactions of the business. Posting to the ledger account not only helpRead more

    Ledger posting

    The process of entering all transactions from journal to ledger is called ledger posting. Each ledger account contains an individual asset, person, revenue, or expense. As we’re aware the journal records all the transactions of the business.

    Posting to the ledger account not only helps the proper maintenance of the ledger book but also helps in reflecting a permanent summary of all the journal accounts. In the end, all the accounts that are entered and operated in the ledger are closed, totaled, and balanced.

    Balancing the ledger means finding the difference between the debit and credit amounts of a particular account, it’s done on the day of closing of the accounting year. Sometimes journal entries are made and maintained monthly. Therefore, the balancing of the ledger’s date depends on the business’ closing date and the way a business maintains its books of accounts.

    Example

    Mr. Jack Sparrow decided to start a new clothing business. On 1st April 2021, He started the business with a total sum of $100,000 cash. He purchased furniture, including desks and shelves for $25,000. Mr. Sparrow then decided to start with women’s clothing and purchased a complete range of clothes from the wholesale market for $50,000. On the next day, he sold all the stock for $75,000. He also hired a worker for $5,000.

    We need to journalize these transactions and post them into the ledger account.

     

    Journal Entries

     

    Ledger Accounts

    Cash A/c

     

    Capital A/c

     

    Purchases A/c

     

    Sales A/c

     

    Salary A/c

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  2. Ishika Pandey Curious ca aspirant
    This answer was edited.

    Definition The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances. A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not on a particular period. Importance As the tRead more

    Definition

    The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances.

    A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not on a particular period.

    Importance

    As the trial balance is prepared at the end of the year so it is important for the preparation of financial statements like balance sheet or profit and loss

    Purpose of trial balance which are as follows:

      • To verify the arithmetical accuracy of the ledger accounts
      • This means trial balance indicates that equal debits and credits have been recorded in the ledger accounts.
      • It enables one to establish whether the posting and other accounting processes have been carried out without any arithmetical errors.
      • To help in locating errors
      • There can be some errors if the trial balance is untallied therefore to get error-free financial statements trial balance is prepared.
      • To facilitates the preparation of financial statements
      • A trial balance helps us to directly prepare the financial statements and then which gives us the right to not look or no need to refer to the ledger accounts.

     

    Preparation of trial balance

      • To verify the correctness of the posting of ledger accounts in the terms of debit credit amounts periodically, a periodic trial balance may be prepared ( say ) at the end of the month or quarter, or half year.
      • There is no point in denying that a trial balance can be prepared at any time.
      • But it should at least be prepared at the end of the accounting period to verify the arithmetical accuracy of the ledger accounts before the preparation of financial statements.

     

    Methods of preparation

    • Balance method
    • Total amount methods

     

    These are two methods that you can use to prepare trail balance, now let me explain to you in detail about these methods which are as follows:-

     

    Balance method

    • The balances of all the accounts ( including cash and bank account ) are incorporated in the trial balance.
    • When ledger accounts are balanced only this method can be used.
    • This method is generally used by accountants for preparation of the financial statements.

     

    Total amount method

    • Under this method, the total amount of debit and credit items in each ledger account is incorporated into the trial balance.
    • This method can be used immediately after the completion of posting from the books of the original entry ledger.

     

    Steps to prepare a trial balance

    • First, we need to decide the method to opt for the preparation of the trial balance which is mentioned above.
    • Then once opted, collect all the balances as per the method adopted and prepare accordingly by posting the debit and credit side of the trial balance.
    • After this process arrange all the accounts in order of their nature (assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses ).
    • Then you have to total debit and credit balances separately.
    • After the above steps if there is any difference between the total debit and credit side balances then that is adjusted through the suspense account.

     

    A suspense account is generated when the above case arises that is trial balance did not agree after transferring the balance of all ledger accounts including cash and bank balance.

    And also errors are not located in  timely, then the trial balance is tallied by transferring the difference between the debit and credit side to an account known as a suspense account.

     

    Rules of trial balance

    When we prepare a trial balance from the given list of ledger balances, the following rules to be kept in mind that are as follows :

    • The balance of all
    • Assets accounts
    • Expenses accounts
    • Losses
    • Drawings
    • Cash and bank balances

    Are placed in the debit column of the trial balance.

    • The balances of
    • liabilities accounts
    • income accounts
    • profits
    • capital

    Are placed in the credit column of the trial balance.

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Simerpreet
SimerpreetHelpful
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  2. Ishika Pandey Curious ca aspirant
    This answer was edited.

    Definition The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances. A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not in a specific period. Types of error in theRead more

    Definition

    The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances.

    A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not in a specific period.

    Types of error in the trial balance

    Now let me explain to you that what are the errors of trail balance which are as follows :
    • Error of principle
    • Compensating error
    • Transactions completely omitted
    • Error of recording
    • Error of posting
    A trial balance is not conclusive proof of the accuracy of the books of accounts since certain types of errors remain even when it tallies. They are explained below :

    Error of principle

    This error arises due to the incorrect application of the principle of accounting is not disclosed by the trial balance.

    Compensating error

    It means the group of errors committed in such a way that one mistake is compensated by another and the trial balance still agrees.

    Transaction completely omitted

    When the transaction is entirely omitted from recording in the books of account cannot be detected.

    Error of recording

    When both aspects of recording a transaction twice in the books of account take place.

    Error of posting

    Posting the correct amount on the correct side but in the wrong account is not reflected in the trial balance.

    Steps to locate errors

    Differences in the trial balance, howsoever minor they may be, must be located and rectified. The following steps are useful in locating errors are :
    • Two columns of the trial balance should be totaled again.

    • The list of sundry debtors and creditors should be checked to find out whether all balances of debtors and creditors have been correctly written in the trial balance or not.

    • It should be checked that the balances of every account including cash and bank balances ( from the cash book ) have been written in the correct column of the trial balance.

    • If the errors remain undetected, try to locate the errors by trial and error techniques such as finding an account showing a balance difference from the trial balance.

    • Ledger balances should be balanced again.

    • Check the totals of subsidiary books.

    • Check the posting of nominal accounts.

    • And at last if not possible to locate the difference in the trial balance is temporarily transferred to a suspense account.

    Importance

    As the trial balance is prepared at the end of the year so it is important for the preparation of financial statements like balance sheets or profit and loss.

    Purpose of trial balance

    • To verify the arithmetical accuracy of the ledger accounts
    This means trial balance indicates that equal debits and credits have been recorded in the ledger accounts.
    It enables one to establish whether the posting and other accounting processes have been carried out without any arithmetical errors.

    • To help in locating errors
    There can be some errors if the trial balance is untallied therefore to get error-free financial statements trial balance is prepared.

    • To facilitate the preparation of financial statements
    A trial balance helps us to directly prepare the financial statements and then which gives us the right to not look or no need to refer to the ledger accounts.

    Rules of trial balance

    When we prepare a trial balance from the given list of ledger balances, the following rules to be kept in mind that are as follows :

    • The balance of all
    • Assets accounts
    • Expenses accounts
    • Losses
    • Drawings
    • Cash and bank balances
    Are placed in the debit column of the trial balance.

    • The balances of
    • liabilities accounts
    • income accounts
    • profits
    • capital
    Are placed in the credit column of the trial balance.

     

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Jayesh Gupta
Jayesh GuptaCurious
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  2. Saurav
    This answer was edited.

    Credit balance means excess of credit side over debit side. For example, At the beginning of the year, the credit balance of trade payable is 3,000 and there is a debit of trade payable of 1,000 during the year and an increase(credit) of trade payable of 4,000 then at the end there will be a creditRead more

    Credit balance means excess of credit side over debit side.

    For example, At the beginning of the year, the credit balance of trade payable is 3,000 and there is a debit of trade payable of 1,000 during the year and an increase(credit) of trade payable of 4,000 then at the end there will be a credit balance of 6,000 of trade payable at the end

    .A Credit balance signifies all income and gains and all liabilities and capital that is there in business.

     

    Liabilities and Capital

    • Account Payables– Account Payables means the amount that is due to the customer by the entity. Its credit balance will always increase when there is an increase in account payables and will decrease when there is a decrease in account payables. For eg-: The stock that has been purchased in credit from creditors of 10,000 will result in an increase in credit balance.
    • Bank Overdraft-Bank Overdraft means when the amount withdrawn from the bank is more than the balance left in the bank. For example, there is a bank balance of 2,000 in the bank but an amount of 4,000 has been withdrawn from the bank. So in such a case, there will be a credit balance of 2,000 which is in Bank Overdraft
    • Bonds– Bonds are the amount that is withdrawn from people for a specific time period which gets redeemed at a coupon rate after such a specific period. For example- A 10% bond of 10,000 is given to a group of people which will be redeemed after 5 years.
    • Income Tax Payables-Income Tax Payable means the amount the company left to pay to the government in earlier periods. For example- There is a tax liability of 10,000 in FY20-21 from which 8,000 was paid in the current year and 2,000 paid in FY21-22.
    • Notes Payable– Notes Payable is a type of promissory note in which a person pays some amount to an entity that the entity will write in a specific period. For example Notes payable of 1,000 given by a person to an entity which will be returned in 3 months with interest
    • Capital– Capital means the amount that is introduced by the company at the beginning of the business for the operations and survival of the business. For example- A capital of 10,000 has been introduced by the company.

     

    Income and Gains

    • Interest Received-Interest Received means the amount which is invested by the company in some other entity and interest received on it
    • Dividend Received– Dividend means the amount received from the entity in which amount invested by the company
    • Rent Received– Rent is the amount that the company receives by letting out their land to another person or entity for use
    • Gains on Sale of Furniture– Gain on Sale of Furniture means that the amount received from the sale of furniture is more than the amount of furniture. So the difference between the amount received from the sale and the cost of furniture is called a gain on the sale of furniture.

    So after seeing all the above points we can conclude that the credit balance includes all the income in the P&L account and all the liabilities in the Balance sheet. So its balance increases when there is an increase in its account.

     

    Debit Balance

    Debit balance means excess of credit side over debit side.

    For Example- At begining of the year the debit balance of trade receivables is 3,000 and there is a decrease(credit) of trade receivables of 1,000 during the year and an increase(debit) of trade receivables of 4,000 then at the end there will be a debit balance of 6,000 of trade receivables at the end

    A Debit balance basically signifies all expenses and losses and all positive balances of assets. The debit balance increases when any asset increases and decreases when any asset decreases.

     

    Asset

    • Cash and Bank Balance
    • Account Receivables
    • Property, Plant, and Equipment
    • Inventory
    • Investments
    • Bill Receivables
    • Intangible Assets

     

    Expenses and Loses

    • Rent
    • Depreciation
    • General Expenses
    • Loss on Sale of asset
    • Printing and stationery
    • Audit fees
    • Outstanding fees
    • Salaries and Wages
    • Insurance
    • Advertising
    • Promotional expenses
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Radha
Radha
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  2. Vijay Curious M.Com
    This answer was edited.

    The difference between a ledger & a trial balance is as follows: Basis Ledger Trial Balance Meaning Ledger is a book/register in which all the accounts are put together. A Trial Balance is a statement showing the debit and credit balance of all the accounts to ascertain the arithmetical accuracyRead more

    The difference between a ledger & a trial balance is as follows:

    Basis Ledger Trial Balance
    Meaning Ledger is a book/register in which all the accounts are put together. A Trial Balance is a statement showing the debit and credit balance of all the accounts to ascertain the arithmetical accuracy of the books of accounts.
    Basis of preparation Journal is the basis for recording transactions in the ledger. The closing balances of different accounts in the ledger are the basis for preparing the trial balance.
    Objective It is prepared to see the net effect of various transactions affecting a particular account. It is prepared to check the arithmetical accuracy of the books of accounts.
    Format A ledger has four identical columns on the debit and credit sides: 1. Date, 2. Particulars, 3. Journal Folio, 4. Amount. A Trial Balance has five columns: 1. S.No, 2. Name of Accounts, 3. Ledger Folio, 4. Debit Balance, 5. Credit Balance.
    Stage of Recording A ledger is prepared after recording the transactions in the journal. A trial balance is prepared after posting the transactions in the ledger.
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Simerpreet
SimerpreetHelpful
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  2. Ishika Pandey Curious ca aspirant
    This answer was edited.

    Definition The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances. A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not on a particular period. What does trial balRead more

    Definition

    The trial balance is a list of all the closing balances of the general ledger at the end of the year. Or in other words, I can say that it is a statement showing debit and credit balances.

    A trial balance is prepared on a particular date and not on a particular period.

    What does trial balance include?

    As in each double-entry system, each account has two aspects debit and credit.

    Hence the following trial balance includes:
    • Debit or credit of the reporting period.
    • The amount which is to be debited or credited to each account.
    • The account numbers.
    • The dates of the reporting period.
    • The totaled sums of debits and credits entered during that time.

    When we prepare a trial balance from the given list of ledger balances, these need to be included which are as follows :

    The balance of all
    • Assets accounts
    • Expenses accounts
    • Losses
    • Drawings
    • Cash and bank balances
    Are placed in the debit column of the trial balance.

    • The balances of
    • liabilities accounts
    • income accounts
    • profits
    • capital
    Are placed in the credit column of the trial balance.

    Importance

    As the trial balance is prepared at the end of the year so it is important for the preparation of financial statements like balance sheets or profit and loss.

    The purpose of the trial balance is as follows:

    • To verify the arithmetical accuracy of the ledger accounts
    This means trial balance indicates that equal debits and credits have been recorded in the ledger accounts.
    It enables one to establish whether the posting and other accounting processes have been carried out without any arithmetical errors.

    • To help in locating errors
    There can be some errors if the trial balance is untallied therefore to get error-free financial statements trial balance is prepared.

    • To facilitate the preparation of financial statements
    A trial balance helps us to directly prepare the financial statements and then which gives us the right to not look or no need to refer to the ledger accounts.

    Structure of trial balance

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Simerpreet
SimerpreetHelpful
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  2. ShreyaSharma none
    This answer was edited.

    Ledger posting As we know, a business records all of its transactions in the journal. After the transactions are recorded in the journal, they are posted in the principal book called ‘Ledger’. Transferring the entries from journals to respective ledger accounts is called ledger posting or posting toRead more

    Ledger posting

    As we know, a business records all of its transactions in the journal. After the transactions are recorded in the journal, they are posted in the principal book called ‘Ledger’. Transferring the entries from journals to respective ledger accounts is called ledger posting or posting to the ledger accounts. Balancing of ledgers is carried out to find differences at the year’s end.

    Posting to the ledger account means entering information in the ledger, and respective accounts from the journal for individual records. The accounts that are credited are posted to the credit side and vice versa.

    Ledger maintenance is done at the end of an accounting period and it’s maintained to reflect a permanent summary of all the journal accounts. In the end, all the accounts that are entered and operated in the ledger are closed, totaled, and balanced. Balancing the ledger means finding the difference between the debit and credit amounts of a particular account.

    While posting to the ledger account, suppose goods were bought for cash. While passing the journal entry, we’ll be debiting the purchases a/c and crediting the cash a/c by stating it as, ‘To Cash A/c’.

    Now, this entry will be affecting both the purchases account and the cash account. In the cash account, we’ll be debiting purchases. Whereas in the purchases account, we’ll be crediting the cash. That’s how it works in the double-entry bookkeeping system of accounting.

    Example

    Mr. Tony Stark started the business with cash of $100,000 on April 1, 2021. He bought furniture for business for $15,000. He further purchased goods for $75,000.

    Now, we’ll be journalizing the transactions and posting them into the ledger accounts.

    Journal Entries

    Posting to Ledger Account

    Cash A/c

    Capital A/c

    Furniture A/c

    Purchases A/c

     

     

     

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Ayushi
AyushiCurious
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  2. ShreyaSharma none
    This answer was edited.

    Journal entries in the ledger What is a Journal Entry? Journal entry is a form of bookkeeping. All the economic or non-economic transactions in the business are recorded in the journal entries showing a company's debit or credit balances. It is a double-entry accounting method and requires at leastRead more

    Journal entries in the ledger

    What is a Journal Entry?

    Journal entry is a form of bookkeeping. All the economic or non-economic transactions in the business are recorded in the journal entries showing a company’s debit or credit balances. It is a double-entry accounting method and requires at least two accounts or more in a transaction.

    The journal entry helps to identify the transactions. We use journals to get a running list of business transactions. Each journal entry provides this specific information about a transaction:

    • Date of the transaction.
    • Accounts involved in it.
    • Payer, payee, receiver, etc.
    • Account name.
    • Debit and credit of money.

     

    General Ledger 

    After the transactions are recorded in the journal, they are posted in the principal book called ‘Ledger’. A ledger account contains information about a specific account. It contains the opening balance as well as the closing balances of an account. It summarizes the business transactions.

    Transferring the entries from journals to respective ledger accounts is called ledger posting or posting to the ledger accounts. Balancing of ledgers is carried out to find differences at the year’s end, it means finding the difference between the debit and credit amounts of a particular account.

     

    For instance,

    Suppose goods were bought for cash. While passing the journal entry, we’ll be debiting the purchases a/c and crediting the cash a/c by stating it as, ‘To Cash A/c’.

    Now, this entry will be affecting both the purchases account and the cash account. In the cash account, we’ll be debiting purchases. Whereas in the purchases account, we’ll be crediting the cash. That’s how it works in the double-entry bookkeeping system of accounting.

     

    Example

    Mr. Tony Stark started the business with cash of $100,000. He bought furniture for business for $15,000. He further purchased goods for $75,000. He hired an employee and paid him a salary of $5,000.

    Now, we’ll be journalizing the transactions and posting them into the ledger accounts.

    Journal Entries

    Recording into Ledger Account

    Cash A/c

    Capital A/c

    Furniture A/c

    Purchases A/c

    Salary A/c

    Note: The balance b/d is not applicable as this is the business’ commencement year.

     

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  2. Simerpreet Helpful CMA Inter qualified
    This answer was edited.

    Specimen of Ledger account This is the specimen of a ledger account. J.F. here represents the journal folio. A Ledger account is an account that consists of all the business transactions that take place during the current financial year. For Example, cash, bank, machinery, A/c receivable account, etRead more

    Specimen of Ledger account

    This is the specimen of a ledger account. J.F. here represents the journal folio.

    A Ledger account is an account that consists of all the business transactions that take place during the current financial year.

    For Example, cash, bank, machinery, A/c receivable account, etc.

    After the financial data is recorded in the Journal. It is then classified according to the nature of accounts viz. Asset, liability, expenses, revenue, and capital to be posted in the ledger account.

    With this head, the identification as to whether the opening balance will come under the debit side or the credit side is done.

    The table below would help to understand the concept of opening balance in the ledger.

    For further clarification of the concept let me give you a practical example.

    Suppose, a manufacturing firm Amul purchased machinery for, say, Rs 2,50,000. The installation charges were Rs 25,000 and the opening balance of machinery during the year was Rs 5,00,000.

    So as the machinery account comes under the category assets, its opening balance would come under the debit side of the ledger account.

    And as purchase and installation charges mean expenses for the firm, they would also come under the debit side of the account.

    And in case of any sale of a part of the machinery, it would be posted on the credit side of the account as the sales would generate revenue for the firm.

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