66 FARM ACCOUNTING 



Listing the Balance in the Trial Balance. The ledger 

 is now in condition for the second step in the procedure. 

 For this purpose, paper is used with two money columns 

 to the right as in simple journal paper. The heading 

 "Trial Balance/' followed by the date on which it is taken, 

 is placed at the top of the paper. On the first line of the 

 explanation column to the left is written the name of the 

 first account in the ledger that has a balance indicated. It 

 makes no difference whether the balance is on the debit or 

 credit side, it is entered in the trial balance in the order 

 in which it appears in the ledger. If the pencil balance is 

 written in the explanation column on the debit side of the 

 account, it is entered in the debit column of the trial bal- 

 ance on the same horizontal line with the name of the 

 account. In other words, if the debit side of Labor ac- 

 count, for example, exceeds the credit side by $300, that 

 amount is to be placed in the debit column of the trial 

 balance on the same horizontal line with the word " labor. " 

 The second horizontal line is used similarly for recording 1 

 the balance of the second account in the ledger. This 

 process is continued until all ledger accounts with balances 

 have been treated in like manner. 



Adding and Proving the Trial Balance. The third step 

 in taking the trial balance is easily accomplished after the 

 balances have been entered on the trial balance sheet. The 

 totals of the debit and credit columns are placed at the 

 foot of the respective columns after having drawn the cus- 

 tomary single line to indicate the process of addition. If 

 these debit and credit totals are equal, double lines are 

 drawn under them, as in closing an account. Ascertaining 

 that debit and credit totals are equal is called "proving 

 the trial balance." If the two totals are not equal an 

 error exists, and the double lines should not be drawn 

 beneath the totals. The procedure in looking for errors 



