Preparation of Trial Balance - SS1 Accounting Lesson Note

Preparing a trial balance is the process of creating a list of all the ledger accounts with their respective debit and credit balances. The first step is to gather all the ledger account balances from the general ledger. Then, these balances are entered into a trial balance worksheet, with all the debit balances on the left side and credit balances on the right side. 

The total of the debit balances should match the total of the credit balances. If they do not match, it indicates that there is an error in the ledger accounts, and the accountant will need to review the transactions and account balances to identify and correct the error. Once the trial balance is prepared and the totals are balanced, it can be used to create financial statements and other financial reports.