Guides › Finance & Accounting
Spot what looks wrong in your trial balance
Get a second look at your trial balance that points out odd balances, sign errors and big swings from last month before anyone else sees it.
When to use it
Before sending month-end figures
Step by step
Export two trial balances
Export this month's and last month's trial balance from your accounting software as a spreadsheet.
Ask for a review
Attach both to your AI assistant and paste this prompt.
Prompt to copyHere are trial balances for [this month] and [last month] for a [type of business]. Please review them and give me: 1) Whether total debits equal total credits in each. 2) Accounts with an unusual sign (for example a credit balance on an asset or expense account). 3) Accounts that moved more than [20]% or [£1,000] from last month, with the change. 4) Suspense, clearing or 'miscellaneous' accounts with a balance. 5) A short list of questions I should answer before sending this on. Present each as a table. Don't make journal entries, just flag things to check.Investigate each flag yourself
Look up the transactions behind every flagged account in your software. Many swings will have a good reason; note it so you can explain it.
Fix and re-run
Correct genuine errors in your software, export a fresh trial balance and ask the AI to re-check only the items it flagged.
What you get
Sign check: Prepayments shows a credit of £450, worth checking. Big moves: Repairs up £2,300 (+180%), Sales down 12%. Suspense account holds £312.40. Questions: Was the boiler repair a one-off? Has the January rent been prepaid?
Tips
- The AI doesn't know your business, so it will flag normal seasonal swings too. Tell it what's expected, such as 'December sales are always high'.
- Don't paste client personal data, full account numbers or payroll details into a public AI tool unless your organisation allows it. Use your work-approved assistant if you have one.