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The Global Insight

What are the purpose of a post closing trial balance?

Author

Christopher Ramos

Updated on February 06, 2026

Lesson Summary The purpose of the post-closing trial balance is just that. It ensures that at the end of an accounting period, the sum of the total debits is equal to the sum of the total credits. The post-closing trial balance gives a listing of each permanent account that a company has and its balance.

What goes in a post closing trial balance?

The post-closing trial balance will include only the permanent/real accounts, which are assets, liabilities, and equity. All of the other accounts (temporary/nominal accounts: revenue, expense, dividend) would have been cleared to zero by the closing entries.

What is the purpose of the post closing trial balance and what does it evidences?

Purpose of the Post-Closing Trial Balance The post-closing trial balance helps you verify that these accounts have zero balances. It also verifies that debits still equal credit amounts after the closing entries, which ensures that you start the next accounting period with the correct amounts.

What is the purpose of the Post Closing trial balance quizlet?

The purpose of a post closing trial balance is to prove the equality of the total debit balances and total credit balances of the permanent account balances that the company carries forward into the next accounting period.

When to prepare a post closing trial balance?

Post-closing trial balance: The post-closing trial balance is prepared after closing entries have been posted to the ledger. This trial balance only includes permanent accounts. (Figure) Which of these accounts is included in the post-closing trial balance?

How to calculate post closing trial retained earnings?

Retained earnings as per adjusted trial balance + Net income – Dividends = $20,000 + $18,000 – $3,000 = $35,000 Notice that the post-closing trial balance lists only permanent or balance sheet accounts.

Why do I have a post closing balance?

To check if the debit and credit column totals match. If they do not, this could mean that there has been an error in journalizing the closing entries or while posting them to the ledger. The post-closing trial balance will reflect the final balances for the company accounts at the end of the financial reporting period.

How are account balances transferred to trial balance?

Each account balance is transferred from the ledger accounts to the trial balance. All accounts with debit balances are listed on the left column and all accounts with credit balances are listed on the right column. The process is the same as the previous trial balances.