# Check the books with the ledgers

Check that debits equal credits with the trial balance, follow one account item by item in the general ledger, look at each journal in the journal audit, and choose the columns you keep on screen.

Before closing a month or handing the books to an auditor, the accountant checks them account by account. The **Trial Balance** and the **General Ledger** sit under **Ledgers**; the **Journal Audit** sits under **Review**.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need the **Read-only** or the **Administrator** access right on **Accounting**.
- Choose the period as [Read your first report](first-report) shows.

## Check the trial balance {#trial-balance}

1. Open **Accounting/Reporting/Ledgers/Trial Balance** and choose the period, here the year 2026.
2. Read one line per account, with the **Debit** and the **Credit** of the period.
3. Look at the last line, **Total**: its debit and its credit are equal when every entry of the period balances.

Today the **Initial Balance** and **End Balance** cells of the accounts stay empty; read the balance of an account in the general ledger.

![The trial balance of 2026, one line per account with its debit and credit; the last line totals both columns.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11252-50cd84bc/accounting-reports-ledgers-trial_balance-en.png)

## Follow an account in the general ledger {#general-ledger}

1. Open **Accounting/Reporting/Ledgers/General Ledger** and choose the period.
2. Each account shows its total **Debit**, **Credit** and **Balance**. Click an account, here **101401 Bank**, to unfold it.
3. The first line under the account is its **Initial Balance**; each next line is a journal item, with its date, its entry number and its label in the first column, its debit or credit, and the balance after it.

An account with many items shows them in pages: **Load more…** at the bottom of the account brings the next ones.

![The bank account unfolded in the general ledger, one line per journal item with the running balance.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11256-24da993c/accounting-reports-ledgers-general_ledger-en.png)

## Choose the columns {#columns}

The cog next to **Export** (tooltip **Column settings**) lists the columns of the report, each with a box. Untick a box and the column leaves the screen at once; the menu closes. The choice lasts until the report is reloaded, and the exported files keep every column.

![The column settings, one box per column of the report; untick a box to leave that column out of the screen.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11260-0d06ee55/accounting-reports-ledgers-column_settings-en.png)

On a phone the cog sits in the header of the report, next to **Export**.

## Look at each journal {#journal-audit}

**Accounting/Review/Control/Journal Audit** gives the movements of every journal over the period. It opens on one line, **Journal**; click it to list the journals with their **Debit**, **Credit** and **Balance**. Today the **Journal Code**, **Documents** and **To Review** columns read 0 and each journal is listed twice: rely on the debit and credit figures.

## Keep one journal {#journals-filter}

Every ledger has a **Journals** section in the panel: **All Journals**, **None**, or one journal at a time, such as **Bank**. The figures then come from that journal only.

## FAQ {#faq}

### The total debit and credit of the trial balance differ. {#unbalanced}

A posted entry always balances, so the posted figures meet. A difference comes from a draft entry not yet balanced, counted because **Include Draft Entries** is ticked. Untick the box and the totals meet again; to find the draft, tick the same box in the general ledger, where it shows among the items of its accounts.

### I hid a column, but it is in my Excel file. {#hidden-column-export}

The column settings act on the screen only. Delete the column in the spreadsheet.

### The Date and Communication columns of the general ledger stay empty. {#empty-columns}

The date, the entry number and the label of each item are written together in the first column, so the columns of their own stay empty. Untick them in the column settings to give the figures more room.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/accounting-reports/check-the-books-with-the-ledgers
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Accounting reports 19.0.1.1.0
- Verified: 2026-10-23