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, transactions within the period, and the resulting closing balances.

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.

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, reflecting the account’s position at the end of the selected period.

Practical Example

Let’s take the “Customers” account:

Opening balance: 0
Movements: 89,040.78 debit (e.g. sales), and 624 credit (e.g. collections)
Closing balance: 88,416.78

This means sales to customers totaled 89,040.78, while 624 was collected. The remaining outstanding balance is 88,416.78.

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.

You may also click on the currency name to change the report’s currency if needed.

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

This means that the retained earnings in the Trial Balance show the opening 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, on the other hand, shows the full account balances up to a particular date, including:

Past retained earnings
plus or minus
Current period’s profit or loss

As a result, retained earnings in the Balance Sheet reflect both historical and current-year performance — explaining the difference between the two reports.

Example:

Retained earnings as of end of 2024: 48,000 SAR
Losses in 2025: –79,177.21 SAR

In the Trial Balance for the period 01/01/2025 to 31/12/2025:
→ Retained earnings = 48,000 SAR (opening balance only)

In the Balance Sheet dated 31/12/2025:
→ Retained earnings = –31,177.21 SAR (including current-year losses)

Balance Sheet

In the Balance Sheet dated 31/12/2025:
→ Retained earnings = 48,000 – 79,177.21 = –31,177.21 SAR

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.