Prepare a trial balance from journal entries
Intermediate AccountantA trial balance is a checkpoint in the accounting cycle. It rolls journal entries up by account so you can confirm that total debits still equal total credits before moving on to financial statements.
In this exercise, the journal entries are already listed in the top section of the sheet. Your job is to build the trial balance section underneath by totaling each account's debit activity and credit activity, then reviewing the net result.
The Normal balance column tells you which direction each account usually carries. If an account normally has a debit balance, it is unusual when its credit total is higher than its debit total. If an account normally has a credit balance, it is unusual when its debit total is higher than its credit total.
SUMIFS is useful here because it adds values only when a row meets the criteria you set. A generic example is =SUMIFS(D2:D10, B2:B10, G2), where the first range is the amount column and the second range is the column being matched to the lookup value.
Your task:
- Complete the Debit total and Credit total columns for each account in C17:D24.
- Fill the Balance flag column in E17:E24. Return
"Unusual"when the account balance is opposite its normal balance, and return"Normal"otherwise. - Calculate the totals in C26:D26 to confirm the trial balance still ties.
Leave the account names and normal balances in A17:B24 as they are, and build formulas that summarize the journal entry table above.
Need some help?
Hint 1
Use SUMIFS to total the Debit column for rows where the Account column matches the account name in the trial balance. Repeat the same idea for the Credit column.
Hint 2
Use the Normal balance column instead of trying to remember which account names are usually debit or credit balances.
Hint 3
An IF formula can test whether the balance points the wrong way. Return "Unusual" when a Debit-normal account has more credits than debits, or when a Credit-normal account has more debits than credits. Return "Normal" for the other accounts.
Prepare a trial balance from journal entries
Intermediate AccountantA trial balance is a checkpoint in the accounting cycle. It rolls journal entries up by account so you can confirm that total debits still equal total credits before moving on to financial statements.
In this exercise, the journal entries are already listed in the top section of the sheet. Your job is to build the trial balance section underneath by totaling each account's debit activity and credit activity, then reviewing the net result.
The Normal balance column tells you which direction each account usually carries. If an account normally has a debit balance, it is unusual when its credit total is higher than its debit total. If an account normally has a credit balance, it is unusual when its debit total is higher than its credit total.
SUMIFS is useful here because it adds values only when a row meets the criteria you set. A generic example is =SUMIFS(D2:D10, B2:B10, G2), where the first range is the amount column and the second range is the column being matched to the lookup value.
Your task:
- Complete the Debit total and Credit total columns for each account in C17:D24.
- Fill the Balance flag column in E17:E24. Return
"Unusual"when the account balance is opposite its normal balance, and return"Normal"otherwise. - Calculate the totals in C26:D26 to confirm the trial balance still ties.
Leave the account names and normal balances in A17:B24 as they are, and build formulas that summarize the journal entry table above.
Need some help?
Hint 1
Use SUMIFS to total the Debit column for rows where the Account column matches the account name in the trial balance. Repeat the same idea for the Credit column.
Hint 2
Use the Normal balance column instead of trying to remember which account names are usually debit or credit balances.
Hint 3
An IF formula can test whether the balance points the wrong way. Return "Unusual" when a Debit-normal account has more credits than debits, or when a Credit-normal account has more debits than credits. Return "Normal" for the other accounts.