trial balance

American  

noun

Bookkeeping.

• trial balances
  plural

1. a statement of all the open debit and credit items, made preliminary to balancing a double-entry ledger.

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trial balance British  

noun

1. accounting a statement of all the debit and credit balances in the ledger of a double-entry system, drawn up to test their equality

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• trial balances
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of trial balance

First recorded in 1830–40

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trial balance

This is as if a merchant should never balance his books, or, taking a trial balance, should be heedless of the result.

From Sunday-School Success A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers by Amos R. Wells

Please don't make yourself a continuous trial balance all the time.

From The Sagebrusher A Story of the West by Emerson Hough

"I have made out a trial balance and statement, sir," I replied.

From Desk and Debit or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk by Oliver Optic

I had made a failure of my purpose to get out a correct trial balance, and this was sufficiently mortifying without the reproach the junior partner cast upon me.

From Desk and Debit or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk by Oliver Optic

I hung my head with shame while he glanced over the trial balance, which, according to my father's system, included the balance sheet.

From Desk and Debit or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk by Oliver Optic

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