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Correction
Equal trial-balance totals show that the recorded debit balances equal the recorded credit balances. They do not show that every transaction was recorded once, in the correct account, for the correct amount, or in the correct period.
Why the wrong answer seems reasonable
Every journal entry should contain equal debits and credits. A one-sided entry, a one-sided posting, or some addition errors make the trial balance unequal. Because the trial balance catches those errors, equal totals can look like a general sign that the records are correct.
Where it goes wrong
Harbor Design is a design-services corporation. Its unadjusted trial balance has $186,400 in each column. Suppose it omits a $340 December utility bill. Neither column changes. Harbor Design would still report equal totals, although the expense and payable would both be understated by $340.
A wrong account can also preserve equality. Harbor Design could debit Advertising Expense instead of Software Expense for $4,800 of software used during the year. The debit total would not change, but Advertising Expense would be $4,800 too high and Software Expense would be $4,800 too low.
The totals also remain equal when a complete entry is recorded twice or the same incorrect amount appears on both sides. Equal totals show that the debit and credit columns agree. They do not show that the records are correct.
Check your answer
If your conclusion begins with “the totals agree, so,” complete the sentence with only what the trial balance establishes: recorded debit balances equal recorded credit balances. Then determine whether the proposed error changes the two columns by different amounts. An error that changes both columns equally can remain hidden.
What to do instead
Use the trial balance for its arithmetic check. Review the transaction evidence separately to answer four more questions:
- Was every transaction recorded once?
- Did the entry use the correct accounts?
- Did both sides use the supported amount?
- Did the entry belong in this reporting period?
The transaction documents and account details answer those questions. Equal columns alone cannot.
When this mistake may appear
- A trial balance or entry has equal debit and credit totals.
- A question asks which errors can remain hidden when the totals agree.
Your work may contain this mistake if:
- The answer concludes that no transactions are missing because the columns agree.
- The answer accepts a wrong-account, wrong-amount, repeated, or wrong-period entry because it remains balanced.