Enter Trial Balance screen

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Use the Enter Trial Balance screen to review and edit account information. A special feature of the Enter Trial Balance screen is the ability to toggle on/off the Journal Entry View to add, maintain, and simultaneously view the adjusting journal entries in the Trial Balance grid. To add, edit, or delete customized views in this screen, use the View Maintenance dialog.

See also: Write-up process workflow

Choose Actions > Enter Trial Balance or click the Enter Trial Balance Enter trial bal button icon in the Accounting section of the Navigation pane.

Notes

  • Trial balance functionality is available when you have the appropriate accounting and/or trial balance licenses installed.
  • You can enable the Journal Entry View by marking the Display journal entry view checkbox in the Edit > Enter Trial Balance Options dialog. When the Journal Entry View is active, the top portion of the screen contains the Trial Balance grid, and the lower portion contains the Journal Entry View. Using the dual views enables you to edit transactions in the same screen and view the effect on the account instantaneously.
  • There is a one-to-one correspondence between the current row in the Journal Entry grid and the account row in the Trial Balance grid. The application verifies the balance after the entry in each row has been completed.
  • To edit general information, assign codes, renumber accounts, segmentize accounts, and merge accounts, choose Edit > Edit Multiple Accounts. For details see, Edit multiple accounts.
  • To create multiple trial balance views per client, click the View Maintenance link at the top of the Enter Trial Balance screen.
  • If you have added a Beginning Balance column to a Trial Balance View, the application updates that column during the year-end close. The beginning balance amounts are supported by a transaction that is automatically generated by the application. These events can be out of balance, but critical checkpoints require the balances to be resolved prior to closing the year.
  • You can transfer trial balance views between Accounting CS clients.

Fields & buttons

Data Entry grid

Use the data entry grid to enter balances for your accounts. Click the View Maintenance link at the top of the Enter Trial Balance screen to add or modify existing views for your client.

You can enter accounts that are available in the client's Chart of Accounts to create a transaction that supports the balances based on the data entered.

The balance that you enter in the grid must be a year-to-date balance for the account. The application calculates the transaction amount as the difference between the year-to-date amount and the amount for the previous activity entered for that account.

Example icon Example 1: Account 100 has a current balance of $250.00, and you enter the new year-to-date balance of $700.00 in the Unadjusted column of the Trial Balance grid for that account. The application generates a transaction for that account with an amount of $450.00.

Example icon Example 2: Account 400 has a current balance of ($875.00), and you enter the new year-to-date balance of ($600.00) in the Unadjusted column of the Trial Balance grid for that account. The application generates a transaction for that account with an amount of $275.00.

Default Trial Balance view

The Default view includes following columns.

  • Account
  • Description
  • Account Grouping / Account Classification
  • Account Grouping (Subcode) / Account Classification
  • Unadjusted [CY, C]
  • Adjusting JE (Debit) [CP, C]
  • Adjusting JE (Credit) [CP, C]
  • Adjusted [CY, C]

Note: You can delete any column from a view except the Account number and the Description columns.

Journal Entry View

Use the Journal Entry View section of the Actions > Enter Trial Balance screen to review and enter adjusting journal entries. The application updates the corresponding entries in the Trial Balance grid simultaneously.

The following journal entry subtypes are available from the drop-down list in the Subtype column.

  • Adjusting - to post entries to unadjusted balances so that they become part of the adjusted trial balance.
  • Tax Adjustment - to modify the presentation of account balances to comply with taxing authority regulations.
  • Reclassifying - for financial statement purposes only. Reclassifying journal entries are not typically entered in the books.
  • Other - for preparing financial statements on another comprehensive basis of accounting to combine with the adjusting trial balance to create the other basis trial balance.
  • Potential - to record journal entries that may be needed at a later date. Potential journal entries can easily be converted to any other journal entry type.

The following fields are required when entering data in the Journal Entry View.

Journal

Select a journal from the drop-down list. The list includes the journals that have been set up in the Setup > Journals screen.

Note: To add a journal on the fly, enter a unique description in this field, click Yes when prompted to add the journal, enter the journal information in the Journal dialog, and click Enter and then Done to complete the task.

Posting Period

Select a period from the drop-down list for the current or future year.

Note: For prior-period journal entries, you must change the general ledger period end date to the prior year to force a close for the year. Move the year end date forward again to update the balances appropriately.

Subtype

Select the applicable subtype from the drop-down list. (The default is Adjusting, but you can select a different default subtype in the Enter Trial Balance Options dialog.)

Amount

Enter a positive amount for debits or a negative amount for credits. As with all amount fields in the application, you can enter the decimal, or if you marked the Implied decimal on amounts checkbox in the System tab of the Setup > User Preferences dialog, the application will enter it for you.

Difference

Select either Temporary or Permanent to appropriately map the journal entry to the correct column in Schedule M-3.

The default selection for this field is Permanent and is available only when one of the following subtypes is selected: Tax Adjustment, Reclassifying, or Other.

The application maps Temporary journal entries to Schedule M-3, Column B and Permanent journal entries to Schedule M-3, Column C in UltraTax CS.

Reverse

For Adjusting journal entries only, mark the Reverse checkbox to have the application reverse the journal entry when advancing to the next posting period.

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