[GNC-dev] tb, gnc or me? my trial balance is wrong and I think it is gnc not me

[Wm]

On 10/02/2019 09:14, Geert Janssens wrote:
> Op zondag 10 februari 2019 09:56:51 CET schreef Adrien Monteleone:
>> I’m in agreement on that note. I understand why someone who doesn’t close
>> books would like a report that shows a current position. But the Trial
>> Balance report is really only useful for the close books crowd. It should
>> only reflect actual transactions in the various registers. In the case of
>> assets then, it shouldn’t be estimating based on any user choice of
>> average, nearest date or such, it should be taking actual purchase price
>> just like you would if you did it on paper.
> 
> In Belgium you have the choice (or at least used to have - I haven't checked
> lately):
> We can/could report the balance using purchase values or using current values,
> with current values meaning current at the report date.

that would be for a balance sheet, p+l or similar public facing 
document, not a trial balance

a trial balance is an internal document or work sheet to help figure out 
(usually) human type accounting errors like something being put on the 
balance sheet side rather than the p+l side or similar (e.g. an expense 
as a liability or some such, these are quite easy mistakes to make if 
you don't have formal accounting knowledge or even if you do, happen to 
be busy and think "I'll just post it and sort it out later")

some people actually stop formal accounting training at trial balance 
stage in the UK, I am not joking.  if you can bring a set of accounts to 
trial balance you will probably find work.  the balance sheet and p+l 
are the easy parts if someone else has done the work :)

if the value of a tx changed because of a share price rising or falling 
or an exchange rate changing it doesn't affect the trial balance at all, 
it is the numbers that we are seeking to balance, not their values

in english language accounting we call it the trial balance because it 
is for testing the stuff we produce later (p+l, bs, etc)

-- 
Wm