Trial balance data for the accounts

The figures in the accounts are primarily derived from the values in the trial balance. The trial balance is input in the Trial Balance tab of the accounts preparation page.

Toolbar

  • Save changes saves all the changes made to the trial balance. Note that the values will also be saved automatically when switching to another tab in the accounts preparation page.
  • Layout you can use this selection box to change the way that the trial balance is displayed and entered – Single column per year – each year has a single column – enter credits as negative and debits as positive amounts.- Debit/credit columns – each year has a debit and a credit column.
  • Export Trial Balance use this button to export the Trial Balance in either Excel or CSV formats.
  • Paste TB from clipboard if you have a trial balance that you wish to import, you can copy it to the clipboard, to import.

Entering data

Enter data into the trial balance. Only enter data in whole pounds.

Taxfiler only shows values in the trial balance to the nearest pound. Where a balancing trial balance is imported or copied into Taxfiler with penny values these will be rounded to the nearest pound, any difference will be posted into an account with a balance i.e. creditors, debtors, cash.

Should the trial balance not balance, even a penny out, Taxfiler will not allocate the rounding difference and will show that there are errors in the trial balance, the difference shown will include the rounding difference as it will not have been posted to an account as yet.

The profit and Loss accounts are listed first and this area is shaded blue. The Balance Sheet accounts area is shaded pink.

Trial Balance Summary (Companies)

  • Retained profit/(loss)’ displays the retained profit or loss based on the figures in the trial balance.
  • Net assets/(liabilities)’ displays the net assets from the trial balance.
  • Shareholders funds’ displays the total of shareholders funds. This includes the retained profit and should equal the net assets if the trial balance is entered correctly.

Trial Balance Summary (Sole Trader, partnerships & LLP’s)

  • Profit/(loss)’ displays the net profit or loss based on the figures in the trial balance.
  • Net assets/(liabilities)’ displays the net assets from the trial balance.
  • Capital at end of period‘ displays the capital account balance at the end of the period. This includes the net profit and should equal the net assets if the trial balance is entered correctly.

The following example error message is displayed if the trial balance does not balance, the top line tells you there is an error and the second line gives additional information as to where the error is, current year, comparative year etc.

Connect to cloud bookkeeping

You can connect to KashFlow, Quickbooks online, Xero FreeAgent and Sage accounting . When you select the package you are using, a new window will open and you will need to enter your user name and password to authorise Taxfiler to access the client data. Once connected you will be able to populate the trial balance directly from your accounting package.

Please note that this does not work with the desktop version of QuickBooks, for which the Paste TB from clipboard button should be used.