Trial balance
A summary report listing every account in the general ledger alongside its debit or credit balance at a given date, used to confirm that total debits equal total credits before producing financial statements.
A trial balance lists every account from your chart of accounts — sales, purchases, wages, VAT, bank, debtors, creditors — with its closing balance shown as either a debit or a credit. The report is in balance when the total of all debit balances equals the total of all credit balances. If the two columns differ, a posting error exists somewhere in the ledger.
In Xero the trial balance sits under Accounting → Reports and can be run for any date or compared against a prior period. The typical use is confirming the books are clean before your accountant produces statutory accounts: a balanced trial balance means every double-entry posting was made correctly, even if individual account codes still need review.
What it does — and does not — tell you
Agreement between the columns confirms the arithmetic of your postings, not their accuracy. A payment coded to the wrong expense account still produces a balanced trial balance; the error simply sits in the wrong row. Equally, a duplicated transaction balances because both sides of the duplicate offset each other. The trial balance is therefore a necessary but not sufficient check — the first gate at month-end close. An “Office Supplies” balance of £4,800 when you expected £480 flags a misposting before it reaches the profit and loss report.