Trial balance

A list of every account's balance, used to check that total debits equal total credits before producing statements.

Example

Run at month end; if it does not balance, something was recorded incorrectly.

A balanced trial balance proves the arithmetic, not the truth. You can categorise every transaction wrongly and still balance perfectly.

General ledger — The complete record of every transaction, sorted into the accounts from your chart of accounts. Every report is built from it.
Journal entry — A single record of a transaction in the ledger, with equal debits and credits.
Month-end close — The routine of finishing a month's books: recording everything, reconciling the bank, checking categories, and producing the statements.
Balance sheet — A snapshot at one moment of what you own (assets), what you owe (liabilities), and the difference (equity).

The month-end close — The two-hour routine that turns bookkeeping into a decision tool. A checklist you can run on the first working day of every month. (12 min)