Posting accounts to the post closing trial balance follows the exact
same procedures as preparing the other trial balances. Each account
balance is transferred from the ledger accounts to the trial balance.
All accounts with debit balances are listed on the left column and all
accounts with credit balances are listed on the right column.
The process is the same as the previous trial balances. Now the ledger accounts just have post closing entry totals.
An post closing trial balance is formatted the same as the other trial balances in the accounting cycle displaying in three columns: a column for account names, debits, and credits.
Since only balance sheet accounts are listed on this trial balance,
they are presented in balance sheet order starting with assets,
liabilities, and ending with equity.
As with the unadjusted and adjusted trial balances,
both the debit and credit columns are calculated at the bottom of a
trial balance. If these columns aren’t equal, the trial balance was
prepared incorrectly or the closing entries weren’t transferred to the
ledger accounts accurately.
As with all financial reports,
trial balances are always prepared with a heading. Typically, the
heading consists of three lines containing the company name, name of the
trial balance, and date of the reporting period.
The post closing trial balance is a list of all accounts and their balances after the closing entries
have been journalized and posted to the ledger. In other words, the
post closing trial balance is a list of accounts or permanent accounts
that still have balances after the closing entries have been made.
This accounts list is identical to the accounts presented on the
balance sheet. This makes sense because all of the income statement
accounts have been closed and no longer have a current balance. The
purpose of preparing the post closing trial balance is verify that all
temporary accounts have been closed properly and the total debits and
credits in the accounting system equal after the closing entries have
been made.
