What is an Unadjusted Trial Balance? 

An unadjusted trial balance is a report that lists all the accounts from the general ledger along with their ending debit or credit balances, as of a specific date. It’s called "unadjusted" because it is prepared before any adjusting journal entries are made for accruals, deferrals, depreciation, or errors.

The trial balance ensures that the total debits equal total credits—a fundamental rule of double-entry bookkeeping.



=) The main objectives of preparing an unadjusted trial balance are:

  • Verify Mathematical Accuracy: Ensures that the total of debit balances equals the total of credit balances.

  • Summarize Ledger Balances: Provides a snapshot of all account balances in one place.

  • Set the Stage for Adjustments: It serves as the starting point for identifying and correcting inaccuracies or incomplete entries.

When is It Prepared?

The unadjusted trial balance is typically prepared at the end of the accounting period (monthly, quarterly, or annually), after all journal entries have been posted to the ledger but before making adjusting entries.

Steps to Prepare an Unadjusted Trial Balance:

1. List All Accounts From The Ledger:

  • Include every account that has a balance, even if it has a zero balance (optional in some cases).

2. Enter Account Balances:

  • Copy each account’s balance from the general ledger to the trial balance—debits in the debit column and credits in the credit column.

3. Calculate the Totals:

  • Sum both the debit and credit columns.

4. Verify Balance Equality:

  • Check that total debits equal total credits. If they don’t, recheck the ledger postings for errors

=)The trial balance helps reveal certain types of accounting mistakes, such as:

  • Entries: Transactions that weren’t posted to the ledger
  • Transposition Errors: Reversing digits (e.g., writing $450 as $540).
  • Single-Sided Entries: Only recording the debit or the credit side.
  • Incorrect Amounts Posted: Posting the wrong amounts to ledger accounts.