Question

You are told the column totals in a trial balance are not equal. After careful analysis, you discover only one error. Specifically, a correctly journalized credit purchase of an automobile for $8,650 is posted from the journal to the ledger with an $8,650 debit to Automobiles and another $8,650 debit to Accounts Payable. The Automobiles account has a debit balance of $20,500 on the trial balance. Answer each of the following questions and compute the dollar amount of any misstatement.
a. Is the Debit column total of the trial balance overstated, understated, or correctly stated?
b. Is the Credit column total of the trial balance overstated, understated, or correctly stated?
c. Is the Automobiles account balance overstated, understated, or correctly stated in the trial balance?
d. Is the Accounts Payable account balance overstated, understated, or correctly stated in the trial balance?
e. If the Debit column total of the trial balance is $200,000 before correcting the error, what is the total of the Credit column before correction?

Answer 1

Answer:

a. The Debit column is correctly stated.

b. The Credit column is understated by $17,300 ($8,650 * 2).

c. The Automobiles account balance is correctly stated in the trial balance.

d. The Accounts Payable account balance is understated in the trial balance by  $17,300 ($8,650 * 2).

e. If the Debit column total of the trial balance is $200,000 before correcting the error, the total of the Credit column before correction is $182,700.

Explanation:

This mistake is an Error of Commission.  It is a problem of arithmetical accuracy, for example, posting to the wrong side of one ledger account.  In this case, the Accounts Payable should have been credited with the amount of $8,650.  As an arithmetic error, it can only be corrected by doubling the affected amount on the Credit side of the Accounts Payable account.