To run a QuickBooks trial balance in QuickBooks Online, open Reports, search for Trial Balance, set the report period to end on the date you need, and run the report. Check that the company's accounting method matches the engagement, then export to Excel and remove the header rows, totals and formatting before using the figures.
Where the QuickBooks Online trial balance report lives
The QuickBooks Online trial balance is a standard report, so it sits in the Reports area with the profit and loss and balance sheet. The fastest way to it is the search box. A QuickBooks Team reply in the Intuit community thread on the QuickBooks Online trial balance gives the route.
Here is the step list, with the settings to use for a year-end trial balance. The client and dates are fictional: Example Bakery LLC, calendar fiscal year, tax year 2026.
- Go to Reports.
- In the search field, type Trial Balance and select it.
- Change Report period to the client's full fiscal year, here 1/1/2026 to 12/31/2026. The period should end on the last day of the fiscal year being reported.
- Select Run report.
- Confirm the bottom line: total debits and total credits should be equal. For Example Bakery LLC both columns total $119,000.
- If you will use this layout again, save it. Intuit's guide to running reports in QuickBooks Online describes Save As, which puts the report under the Custom reports tab.
Intuit's guide to running reports describes the general route as Reports, then Standard reports, then selecting the report. The search box gets to the same place with fewer clicks. Menu labels can change between the classic and newer report views, so if a step does not match your screen, search for the report by name.
Firms that use QuickBooks Desktop have a different screen for the same job. The Desktop accountant edition has a working trial balance with beginning, adjustment and ending columns; where to find the working trial balance in QuickBooks Desktop covers it.
QuickBooks trial balance date ranges and accounting basis
A QuickBooks trial balance needs two settings to match the work it supports: an end date and an accounting method. The end date should be the last day of the period being reported, usually the fiscal year end for a return or review. The accounting method, cash or accrual, should match the basis the client files or reports on.
Choosing the dates
A trial balance lists balances at the close of a period. Balance sheet accounts show what was there at the end date. Income and expense accounts are meant to show the activity for the period, so set the report period to cover the whole fiscal year being reported, not only its last month. For a calendar-year client, 1/1/2026 to 12/31/2026 gives the year-end trial balance. After running it, compare the income total with the client's profit and loss report for the same dates; they should agree.
Fiscal years that do not follow the calendar are where date mistakes happen. A client with a June 30 year end needs a report ending 6/30; a report ending 12/31 shows the wrong months in the income accounts. Check the fiscal year setting in the client's company settings before trusting any year-end figure.
Choosing cash or accrual
The accounting method changes which transactions count. On the accrual basis, unpaid invoices and unpaid bills appear in receivables, payables, income and expense. On the cash basis, they wait until money moves.
Intuit's guide to running reports in QuickBooks Online gives the setting that controls the default for reports: Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced, then the pencil icon in the Accounting section, then the Accounting method dropdown, where you pick Accrual or Cash, then Save and Done. Reports then default to that method.
Changing the company default affects every report other users run, so many firms leave it alone and note on the exported trial balance which basis it was run on. Whatever the choice, write the basis and end date at the top of the workpaper. A trial balance with no basis label invites someone to compare it with a return prepared on the other basis.
How do you build a comparative trial balance in QuickBooks?
A comparative trial balance puts the current period's balances next to a prior period's, account by account. In QuickBooks Online, some reports have a Compare option that adds a prior period or prior year column. If the trial balance in your company does not offer it, run two reports and join them in Excel.
Using Compare where it is offered
Intuit's article on how to compare time periods in QuickBooks Online reports lists the steps: open the report, select Compare, then pick Previous period, Previous year or Year-to-date, and optionally $ change or % change. The article also says plainly: "If you don't see Compare another period, then it isn't an option for that report." It does not list which reports support it.
Building it from two runs
When Compare is not there, run the trial balance twice with the same basis: once ending 12/31/2026 and once ending 12/31/2025. Export both, put the prior year in its own column, and match rows by account number rather than by row position. Accounts that existed in only one year, such as a loan opened in 2026, need their own row with a zero in the other column.
Add two formula columns: dollar change (current minus prior) and percent change (dollar change divided by the absolute value of prior). Those two columns are the start of the variance work a review or a year-end close needs.
Is there a detailed trial balance in QuickBooks?
For a detailed trial balance in QuickBooks Online, use the General Ledger report. It lists every posting behind each account's balance for the period. With debit and credit columns added, its account totals tie back to the trial balance for the same dates and accounting method.
Intuit's article on how to run a ledger report that shows debits and credits for each transaction gives the steps: Reports, then Standard reports, search for General Ledger, select Columns and tick Credit and Debit. The Cleared checkbox adds each transaction's reconciliation status, and Filter narrows the report to chosen accounts.
Use the trial balance to find an account that looks wrong, then the general ledger filtered to that one account to see why. For Example Bakery LLC, a rent expense of $10,000 against a lease of $800 a month ($9,600 for the year) prompts a look at the ledger, where a fictional duplicate $400 payment in March would show up.
For firms making adjusting entries in QuickBooks Online Accountant, Intuit's article on making adjusting journal entries in QuickBooks Online Accountant points to the Adjusted Trial Balance report, which shows balances before and after adjusting entries and totals the adjustments.
General ledger reports get large. Intuit's article on the error "The report you are attempting to create may not display" says QuickBooks Online can export more to a spreadsheet than it can show on screen, and suggests exporting, or running the report in pieces by account or period and combining them.
The cash accounts on any trial balance should be reconciled before the figures are used. The steps are in the post on reconciling QuickBooks Online bank accounts.
Exporting the QuickBooks trial balance to Excel without broken rows
Exporting the QuickBooks trial balance gives a workbook made for reading, not for formulas. Intuit's guide to exporting reports to Excel gives the route: open the report, select the Export/Print dropdown, then Export to Excel, and save the file.
The same guide adds one warning: if data seems to be missing when the file opens, Excel has probably opened it in Protected View, and selecting Enable Editing shows the full report. After that, the clean-up below turns the export into a sheet another workbook or tool can import.
| Step | What to look for | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Enable editing | A yellow Protected View bar, cells that look empty | Select Enable Editing, then save a copy as .xlsx |
| 2. Move the header | Company name, report title, basis and date rows above the data | Copy them to a notes cell, then delete the rows so row 1 holds column names |
| 3. Name the columns | Blank or merged header cells | Use Account, Debit, Credit in row 1, one per column |
| 4. Remove the total row | A TOTAL line at the bottom | Delete it and recompute the totals with a formula below the data |
| 5. Split number and name | "1000 Checking" in one cell, if account numbers are on | Split into Account number and Account name columns |
| 6. Fix number formats | Amounts stored as text, often left-aligned | Convert to numbers and confirm SUM gives the same totals as the report |
| 7. Make one signed column | Separate debit and credit columns | Add Balance = Debit minus Credit, so credits are negative |
| 8. Prove it | The signed column should total zero | If it does not, a row was lost or duplicated in steps 2 to 6 |
Here is Example Bakery LLC after step 7. All figures are fictional.
| Account number | Account name | Debit | Credit | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Checking XXXX-4821 | 25,000 | 25,000 | |
| 1200 | Accounts receivable | 8,000 | 8,000 | |
| 1300 | Inventory | 6,000 | 6,000 | |
| 2000 | Accounts payable | 5,000 | -5,000 | |
| 2500 | Equipment loan | 10,000 | -10,000 | |
| 3900 | Retained earnings | 14,000 | -14,000 | |
| 4000 | Sales | 90,000 | -90,000 | |
| 5000 | Cost of goods sold | 40,000 | 40,000 | |
| 6100 | Wages | 30,000 | 30,000 | |
| 6200 | Rent | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| Total | 119,000 | 119,000 | 0 |
Which columns another tool's trial balance import expects, and which sign rule it uses, is covered in the post on which columns a trial balance import needs. For firms that would rather keep these exports in dedicated software than a workbook, the post on trial balance software for accounting firms lists what to test.
Not every client gives the firm access to the books. Many send an exported trial balance or general ledger as a PDF along with their bank statements. Schema CPA classifies those pages with the rest of the client's documents and exports the figures to Excel or CSV, as the workflow on the homepage shows.
QuickBooks trial balance surprises: net income and retained earnings
A QuickBooks trial balance never shows the current year's profit as its own line. The profit is still there, spread across the income and expense accounts, which the trial balance lists one by one. Last year's profit, by contrast, has already moved into retained earnings, and QuickBooks Online makes that move without a visible entry.
Intuit's article on how to view retained earnings account details says that when a new fiscal year starts, QuickBooks Online automatically adds the previous fiscal year's net income to the balance sheet. It adds that the transfer "doesn't show on any report unless there have been other entries made to the Retained Earnings account."
In the Example Bakery LLC table, retained earnings is $14,000 and the income and expense accounts net to $10,000 of profit (sales $90,000 less $40,000, $30,000 and $10,000 of costs). A balance sheet run for the same date shows equity of $24,000: the $14,000 plus a separate net income line of $10,000. The trial balance shows the parts, and the balance sheet adds them up.
Three checks catch most retained earnings surprises:
- Opening retained earnings should equal last year's adjusted closing retained earnings. If the firm's adjusted retained earnings for 2025 was $14,000, the 2026 trial balance should show $14,000 before any 2026 activity in that account. A difference usually means the firm's 2025 adjustments were never posted in the client's books.
- Entries posted straight to retained earnings deserve a look. Intuit's article says the account only shows activity on reports when someone has posted to it directly. Any such entry is a manual change to prior years.
- The fiscal year setting drives the rollover. If the fiscal year in settings is wrong, profit rolls into retained earnings on the wrong date, and the income accounts on a year-end trial balance hold the wrong months.
Intuit's article also gives a way to see what makes up retained earnings: run the profit and loss report for all dates and view the details behind the net income amount.