Your Guide to the Trial Balance – Balances, Movements, and Retained Earnings

The Trial Balance report provides a comprehensive summary of all accounts in your company over a selected period, including the opening balances (debit or credit), transactions within the period, and the resulting closing balances (debit or credit).
 

This report is essential for reviewing the company’s books and ensuring that accounts are balanced before generating other financial statements, such as the Balance Sheet or Income Statement.

It enables you to:

• Review each account individually (e.g. expenses, revenues, assets…)

• Verify that accounting entries during the period were recorded correctly

• Detect any discrepancies or unusual entries

Despite its simplicity, the report requires a solid understanding of how each column works and how to interpret the data, especially in accounts that often show significant differences, such as Retained Earnings, which we explain in this guide.

How to Access the Report

To view the Trial Balance, click on "Reports" from the main menu, then select "Trial Balance" under the "For Accountants" section.

The report displays three key components for each account:

Opening Balance

This represents the amount the account held at the beginning of the selected period and is displayed under Debit or Credit depending on the account’s balance.

Movements During the Period

These include all entries posted to the account—whether from journal entries or other operations like invoices, expenses, or revenues.
They are split into Debit and Credit depending on the nature of each entry.

Closing Balance

This is calculated by adding the opening balance to the period's net movements and is displayed as either a Debit or Credit balance, reflecting the account’s position at the end of the selected period.

 

Practical Example

Let’s take the “Depreciation Expense” account as shown in the report:

Opening balance:
There is no opening balance, so no amount appears under either the Debit or Credit column in the Opening Balance section.

Movements:
An amount of 408.33 SAR appears under the Debit column in the Movements section.
This reflects depreciation expense recorded during the selected period.

Closing balance:
Since there was no opening balance and only a debit movement, the closing balance is 408.33 SAR, and it appears under the Debit column in the Closing Balance section.

 

How to Read This in the Report

• An amount under the Debit column indicates an increase in an expense or asset account.

• The absence of an amount under the Credit column means no offsetting credit was recorded for this account during the period.

• The closing balance reflects the final impact of all recorded movements on the account.

 

 

Select a suitable date range from the top of the page, you can choose from preset options like a fiscal quarter or define a custom period.

Controlling the Report Columns Display

Wafeq allows you to customize how columns are displayed in the Trial Balance report, whether by showing or hiding specific columns, or rearranging them based on your needs.

This helps you focus on the most important data, such as the opening balance, closing balance, or movements.

At the top of the report table, click the “Edit Columns” ⚙️ button.

A window will appear containing:

• All available columns in the report

• Toggle switches to show or hide columns

• The ability to reorder columns by dragging

You can easily control column visibility:

To show a column → Turn on the toggle next to it
To hide a column → Turn off the toggle next to it

To reorder columns:

Click and hold the drag icon (⋮⋮) next to the column name
Drag the column up or down to your desired position
Release it in the new position

The column order will update immediately in the report.

Freezing Columns:

At the top of the settings window, you will find a section called:

Frozen Columns

What does freezing a column mean?

When a column is frozen, it remains visible at the beginning of the table even when scrolling horizontally. It does not move with the other columns.

This is especially useful when working with reports that contain many columns.

How to freeze a column:

Drag the desired column into the “Frozen Columns” section at the top.

Why Doesn’t Retained Earnings Match Between the Trial Balance and Balance Sheet?

When reviewing your financial reports, you may notice that the retained earnings shown in the Trial Balance report doesn't match the same account in the Balance Sheet.
This difference might seem confusing at first, but it simply reflects the distinct accounting purpose of each report.

Trial Balance Shows Results for a Specific Period Only

In the Trial Balance, account balances — including retained earnings — reflect:

• The balance carried over from prior years

• Transactions recorded within the selected period only

In the Trial Balance, retained earnings are presented as an opening balance, shown under Debit or Credit depending on the balance. at the start of the selected period, before recognizing any current-year profits or losses.

The Balance Sheet Reflects the Financial Position up to a Specific Date

The Balance Sheet reflects the company’s financial position as of the date specified at the top of the report (as shown in the image dated 28 February 2026). This includes:

• Retained earnings carried forward from previous periods

• Plus or minus the net result of the period up to the report date

Accordingly, the retained earnings balance shown in the Balance Sheet includes both historical results and the current period’s result, which explains the difference from the balance shown in the Trial Balance for the same period.

Example:

In the Trial Balance for the same period, the Retained Earnings (301) account appears with a balance of:

→ 4,193,616.15 SAR

This amount is presented as the opening balance according to its nature (debit or credit), without incorporating the result of the current period into this balance.

However, in the Balance Sheet dated 28 February 2026,
the retained earnings balance appears under Equity in the amount of:

→ 4,193,239.49 SAR

This reflects the balance after incorporating the effect of the period’s result up to the report date, which leads to the difference between the two reports.

How to Interpret This Difference as an Accountant or Auditor

• If you are reviewing historical retained earnings only:
  Use the retained earnings balance shown in the Trial Balance report.

• If you want to know the full retained earnings as of today:
  Refer to the retained earnings in the Balance Sheet, which includes results from the current period.

Exporting the Trial Balance

You can export the Trial Balance data by clicking the "Export" button within the report.
From the dropdown menu, select CSV or Excel to download the report in your preferred format.