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Interactive Worksheet: Balancing Accounts And The Trial Balance

by Ken Delaney-Moore, Sheffield Hallam University

Aims:

This worksheet deals with:

  1. Balancing-off accounts
  2. Preparing trial balances

After having completed the worksheet you should be able to explain both of these points. When you are done, please fill-in the on-line evaluation form in order for us to monitor the quality of the materials we provide for you. Tell us what we're doing right and wrong. It takes very little time, and your opinions are valued - thank you.


Balancing - off accounts

Look at the following 'cash' account:

Debits £ Credits £
1 8 Capital 2000 2 8 Bank 1500
4 8 Sales 150 3 8 Purchases 300
7 8 Sales 140 5 8 Creditor - K.Lucas 180
      6 8 Motor expenses 130
Q1. The 'balance' on this account is the difference between the totals of the debit and credit values. Enter this figure in the space provided (Don't use a £ sign).

(Type your answer)



Q2. If this account were a pair of scales, and the values were represented by £1 coins, which side would weigh the most, the 'debit' or the 'credit'?

(Type your answer)

Credit - Debit





Q3. Now try to complete the task of balancing - off this account by filling - in the gaps in the following text.


(Type your answer)





Drawing-up a trial balance

The important figure in any account is the balance 'b/d', i.e. the figure underneath the totals. The side on which this figure appears represents the real balance. In the above example we have a balance b/d of £180 on the debit side. This is therefore referred to as a 'debit' balance, and is placed in the trial balance in the debit column as follows:

'Any old business', trial balance at (date) £ Dr £ Cr
Cash account 180  

N.B. If there is only one entry in the account overall, then this entry IS the balance b/d. On such occasions it is not normally necessary to go through the balancing-off procedure, unless your tutor tells you otherwise.


An exercise in balancing-off accounts and drawing-up a trial balance

Below is a link to a file containing a set of accounts which need balancing-off. We recommend that you open it up by right-clicking your mouse and selecting 'open in new window'. You will need to keep switching between that file and the exercise below, so you can either:

  1. Print-off the file and keep it beside you; or
  2. If you press the 'alt' and 'tab' buttons together you will be able to switch between browser windows (the 'tab' button is above the 'caps lock' button on most keyboards; it has a couple of arrows on it).
Here is the link to set of accounts
Q4. When you think you know what the balances are, fill-in the following (the first one has been done for you). Leave out the £ sign and commas and insert a single space between the amount and the word, as in the first example (capital account).


(Type your answer)




Now please fill-in the on-line evaluation form in order for us to monitor the quality of the materials we provide for you. Tell us what we're doing right and wrong. It takes very little time, and your opinions are valued - thank you.

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