# FIN-003 Trial Balance

## 1 Objective

Provide a summarized trial balance listing opening balance, debit, credit and closing balance amounts for all general ledger accounts over a selected date range.

The report is used for:

- accounting control;
- statutory financial reporting preparation;
- reconciliation between the general ledger and financial statements;
- audit review;
- period-end and year-end closing analysis.

---

## 2 Users

- accounting department;
- finance department;
- auditors;
- financial controlling.

---

## 3 Frequency

- monthly closing;
- quarterly closing;
- year-end closing;
- ad hoc audit requests.

---

## 4 Parameters

Required parameters:

- `date_from`
- `date_to`

Optional parameters:

- `currency`
- `include_zero_accounts`

Execution scope:

- the report is limited to the current entity;
- entity selection is not a report parameter;
- multi-entity and consolidation reporting are out of scope and should be handled by a dedicated consolidation report.

Balance period:

- `date_from` defaults to the first day of the current fiscal year;
- `date_to` defaults to today's date;
- opening balances are calculated as of the day before `date_from`;
- period movements are calculated from `date_from` to `date_to`;
- closing balances are calculated as opening balances plus period movements.

---

## 5 Filters

- posting date between `date_from` and `date_to`;
- all general ledger accounts;
- currency, if the report is generated for a selected currency;
- include or exclude zero-balance accounts based on `include_zero_accounts`.

---

## 6 Sorting

Default sorting:

1. `account`
2. `transaction_currency`

The report should follow account order and should not use the statutory balance sheet or profit and loss hierarchy as its primary sorting structure.

---

## 7 Grouping

Default grouping:

- `account`
- `transaction_currency`

Totals should be displayed by:

- account;
- transaction currency;
- base currency;
- report total.

Presentation requirements:

- each general ledger account should be displayed once per transaction currency;
- debit, credit and balance columns should be displayed side by side;
- opening balance columns are mandatory;
- zero-balance accounts should be controlled by `include_zero_accounts`;
- accounts with movements in the selected period should be displayed even when their closing balance is zero;
- inactive accounts should be displayed when they have movements in the selected period;
- balance sheet and profit and loss account classification may be shown as informational attributes when available.
- drill-down should be available from each account and transaction currency balance to the underlying general ledger movements, accounting documents and source documents when available.

---

## 8 Output Structure

Required columns:

| Column | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `account` | General ledger account code |
| `account_name` | General ledger account name |
| `account_type` | Account classification, such as asset, liability, equity, revenue or expense |
| `posting_status` | Posting status scope included in trial balance amounts, when exposed by the ERP |
| `transaction_currency` | Original transaction currency |
| `base_currency` | Functional or company base currency |
| `opening_balance_transaction_currency` | Opening balance in transaction currency as of the day before `date_from` |
| `debit_transaction_currency` | Debit period movement in transaction currency |
| `credit_transaction_currency` | Credit period movement in transaction currency |
| `closing_balance_transaction_currency` | Closing balance in transaction currency |
| `opening_balance_base_currency` | Opening balance in base currency as of the day before `date_from` |
| `debit_base_currency` | Debit period movement in base currency |
| `credit_base_currency` | Credit period movement in base currency |
| `closing_balance_base_currency` | Closing balance in base currency |

Amount sign convention for this report:

- debit movements are displayed as positive amounts;
- credit movements are displayed as negative amounts;
- opening and closing balances are displayed using the debit-positive and credit-negative convention;
- closing balance equals opening balance plus debit movements plus credit movements.

---

## 9 Estimated volume

Medium.

The report is a summarized accounting control report. It should contain one summarized line per account and transaction currency, rather than individual journal entry lines.

---

## 10 Export formats

- PDF
- CSV
- XLSX

CSV and XLSX are primary review and reconciliation formats. PDF is used for audit and closing documentation.

---

## 11 Controls / reconciliation rules

- Total debit movements plus total credit movements should reconcile in base currency for the selected date range.
- Closing balances should reconcile with the general ledger for the same current entity and selected date range.
- Balance sheet account totals should reconcile with `FIN-001 Comparative Balance Sheet` as of `date_to` when the same account mapping is used.
- Profit and loss account totals should reconcile with `FIN-002 Comparative Profit and Loss Statement` up to `date_to` when the same account mapping is used.
- Accounts excluded by `include_zero_accounts = false` should not change report totals.
- The account list should include all active general ledger accounts with a balance or movements in the selected period.
- The account list should include inactive general ledger accounts when they have movements in the selected period.
- Accounts with zero closing balance should still be displayed when they have debit or credit movements in the selected period.
- Drill-down from an account balance should reconcile to `GL-001 General Ledger` for the same current entity, account, currency and selected date range.

---

## 12 Open questions

- Which ERP source will define account type and financial statement classification? This information is currently unknown.
- Should `posting_status` be displayed in the first implementation? This depends on the target ERP capabilities.