This tool starts with a fictional ledger whose correct balances give a trial balance of 5,500 debit and 5,500 credit. You choose one of eight error scenarios, predict whether the totals will differ, then investigate.
It shows the account balances as posted, compares the totals, names the error type and gives the correcting journal.
How do I use it?
- Choose an error scenario. The tool starts with a purchase posted to the wrong expense.
- Read the story underneath. It says exactly what went wrong.
- Make your prediction: will the totals differ, or be equal? The starting choice is “equal”.
- Press Investigate.
- Read the table, the totals check, the error type and the correction. Reset returns to the first scenario.
Example walk-through
Wrong expense account. A repair bill of 120 was debited to Rent expense instead of Repairs expense, with the credit correct. As posted, Repairs shows 80 instead of 200 and Rent shows 420 instead of 300. Debits are still 5,500 and credits are 5,500.
The tool says the totals are equal, so this error is not revealed by the trial balance. It is an error of commission. The correction is debit Repairs expense 120, credit Rent expense 120.
One side only. A customer paid 150. Cash was debited but the credit to Receivables was never posted. Receivables stays 150 too high, so debits are 5,650 against credits of 5,500 and the difference is 150. The tool says a difference shows at least one error but not where. The correction is debit Suspense account 150, credit Receivables 150, which clears the suspense account.
Whole transaction omitted. A credit sale of 200 was never recorded. Receivables is 200 lower and Sales is 200 lower, so both totals fall to 5,300. They are equal, so the omission is hidden.
Try “digits transposed”: 540 was credited instead of 450, making credits 90 higher. The difference of 90 divides by 9, which can hint at transposition, but it is only a clue.
How do I read the result?
- Table: each account’s correct balance, then the debit and credit columns as posted.
- Totals check: whether debits equal credits, with the difference if not.
- Prediction line: whether your guess was right.
- Error type: for example commission, omission, reversal, principle, compensating, original entry, single-sided or transposition.
- Correction journal: the entry that fixes the ledger.
- Limitation line: what the trial balance could and could not tell you.
What are the limits?
The ledger and the eight errors are fictional and fixed. The tool never treats a balanced trial balance as proof of accurate accounts, and neither should your answers. Check your syllabus on the Cambridge subject page for the error types and layouts your course expects.
Which lessons explain the output?
Read extracting a trial balance from ledger balances, then identifying errors a trial balance can reveal and explaining an error that does not break equality.
The next two are recalculating a total after a posting correction and avoiding treating agreement as proof of accuracy.
If this is your exact difficulty, see the clinic page my trial balance agrees but the entries are wrong. The topic page is trial balance and error limits, with a mixed practice set.
Correcting entries are covered in writing a correcting entry without repeating the original error. The tools page has the rest.
If you can name each error type when told but hesitate to predict it, our team can practise that with you. See online one-to-one Accounting tuition.