ERROR DISCLOSED BY TRIAL BALANCE
It the two sides of a trial balance are
not equal, it is the proof of the existence of error. There may, of course, be
more than one error.
The
main reasons of such errors are given below;
1.) An item omitted to be posted from a
subsidiary book into the ledger i.e., A purchase of Rs.1000
from Navin omitted to be credited to his account. As a result of this error,
the figure of sundry creditors to be shown in the Trial Balance will reduce by
Rs.1000 and the total of the credit side of the Trial Balance will b Rs.1000
less as compared to the debit side of the Trial Balance.
2.) Posting of wrong amount to a ledger
account i.e., A Credit sale of Rs. 2000 to Aarti wrongly posted to her account as Rs.200.
the effect of this error will be that the figure of sundry debtors will be
reduced by Rs.1800 and the total of the debit side of the Trial Balance will be
Rs.1800 Less than the total of the credit side of the Trial Balance.
3.) Posting an amount to the wrong side of the
ledger account i.e., Rs.50 Discount allowed to a Customer wrongly posted to the credit
instead of the debit side of the discount account. As a result to this error,
the credit side of the Trial Balance will exceed by Rs.100 (double the amount
of the error).
4.) Wrong additions or balancing of ledger
accounts i.e., while Balancing Capital account at the end of the financial year, credit
balance of Rs.89000 wrongly taken as Rs.79000. as a result of this error, the
credit total of the Trial Balance will Rs.10000 too short.
5.) Wrong totaling of subsidiary books i.e.,
Sales Book is overcast by Rs.10 as result of this error, credit side of the Trial balance
will be Rs.10 too much because sales account will appear at a higher figure on
the credit side of the Trial Balance.
6.) An item in the subsidiary book posted
twice to a ledger account i.e., Payment of Rs.1000 to a creditor posted twice to his
account.
7.) Omission of Balance of an account in the
Trial Balance Cash and Bank Balance may have been omitted to be included in the
Trial Balance.
8.)
Balance of Some account wrongly entered in the Trial Balance
i.e., A Balance of Rs. 513 in Stationery Account wrong entered as
Rs.315in the Trial balance.
9.)
Balance of some account written to the wrong side of the Trial
Balance i.e., Balance of Commission earned account wrongly shown to
the side instead of the credit side of the Trial Balance.
10.)
An error in the Totaling of the Trial Balance will bring the
disagreement of the Trial Balance.
ERROR NOT DISCLOSED BY A TRIAL BALANCE
It
is certain that the error exists of the debits of trial balance are not equal
to its credits. But the fact that trial balance is in balance does not prove
the accuracy of accounts. There is a possibility of mistakes which will not
upset the equilibrium of the equality of debits and credits and thus is a proof
only of arithmetic accuracy of posting.
The following
are the cases of such error which are not disclosed by a trail balance:
1.) Omission
of an entry in a subsidiary book:- if an entry has not been recorded in a subsidiary
book both the debit and credit of that transaction would be omitted and the
agreement of the trial balance will not be affected in any way.
2.)
A wrong entry in a subsidiary book: -
If a Credit purchase of Rs.465 from Annu is Wrongly written as Rs.564 in the Purchase
book, such an error will not be disclosed by the trial balance. As the posting
on both the debit side of purchases account and credit side annu’s account will
be with the wrong amount of Rs.564, so the trial balance will agree.
3.)
Posting an item to the correct side but in the
wrong account:- If a purchase of Rs.500
from Vasant Desai has been credited to Himanshu Desai in stead of Vasant Desai,
it will not affect the agreement of the Trial Balance, so the Trial Balance
will not detect such an error.
4.)
Compensating error:- These
are errors which compensate themselves in the net result, i.e., over-debits or under-debits
of various accounts being neutralized by the over-credits or under-credits to
the same extent of some other accounts. For example under-posting of Rs.500 on
the debit side of a certain account would be compensated by under-posting of
Rs.100 on the credit side of another account and an omission of credit posting
of Rs.400 to a third account. It is quite possible that this error may also be
neutralized by over-posting of Rs.500 on the debit side in some other account
or accounts or accounts.
5.) Errors
of Principle:- These errors will not affect the agreement
of the trial balance as they arise from the debiting or crediting
of wrong heads of accounts as would be
inconsistent with the fundamental
principles of double entry accounting. For Example Rs.6550 spent in extension
of building wrongly debited to repairs account instead of building account will
not affect the agreement of the Trial balance. Thus, such errors arise whenever
an asset is treated as an expense or vise versa or a liability is treated as an
income or vise versa.