What do I do if my Trial Balance report is unbalanced?

Check for bucket corruption

To fix:

1. Click File, click Maintenance, then click Recovery Tools.
2. Check that Data Files is selected, browse to the Location, then click OK.
3. On the Recovery Tools window, click Recalculate Period Values, click OK.
4. Click Close, then click No, then click Close.

If your Trial Balance is still unbalanced, click Next.

Foreign currency

Do you use foreign currency bank accounts?

TIP: You can check the currency of a bank account in the Currency field.

Sage Accounts posts a revaluation journal when you transfer between two foreign currency bank accounts. This is to ensure the Trial Balance report balances in base currency. The journal uses the software date rather than the transfer date. This is a known issue.

For example, the software date is 01/09/2024 and you post a bank transfer dated 01/07/2024. When the transfer posts, the transactions posted to the bank accounts are dated in July, but the revaluation journal is dated in September. This causes the Trial Balance report to be unbalanced for July and August.

If you've not posted a bank transfer between two foreign currency bank accounts, click Next.

To prevent this happening in the future, change the software date to the transfer date before you post the transfer. If the transfer has already been posted you have three options:

• Option 1 - Ignore the difference and the report will balance when you reach the revaluation date
• Option 2 - Restore a backup taken before the transfer was posted, then change the software date to the date of the transfer. Post the bank transfer again, plus any transactions removed when restoring
• Option 3 - Change the software date to the incorrect revaluation date, then reverse the transfer. Change the date back to the original transfer date then repost the bank transfer

If the trial balance is still unbalanced after correcting the transfer, click Next.

Clear audit trail

Running the trial balance to a date earlier than the clear audit trail date can cause the trial balance to be unbalanced. 

For example, the clear audit trail is run to 31/12/2023 and the trial balance is run to a date before 31/12/2023.

When you clear the audit trail, the cleared transactions are entered as an opening balance on the date of the clear audit trail. Running a trial balance to an earlier date excludes these values.

How to check your clear audit trail date:

1. Click Help, then click About.
2. In the Configuration Information section, note the Clear Audit Trail Date.

NOTE: If you've ran a clear audit trail multiple times, this is the latest date one was run to.  

Errors showing in data

For further information to fix errors in your data, use our refer to our A - Z index of Check Data errors, warning and comments guide.

If the trial balance is still unbalanced after fixing errors, click Next.