Review balances by account group (Financial Statements report)

The trial balance lists posting accounts one by one. The Financial Statements report goes the other way: it starts from the main groups of the chart of accounts and shows how much moved through each group and sub-group in the period. Use it to see the structure of your books at a glance and to spot which group is unusually large.

Steps

1. Open Reports & Analytics › Accounting Reports › Financial Statements.

2. Set the period in From and To.

3. Optional: choose a branch in Branch ID. Empty means your current branch.

4. Select Apply.

How to read it

• Each section is a main account group (the second level of the chart of accounts), such as current assets or operating expenses. Its total is shown in the section header.

• Inside a section, bold lines are the sub-groups (third level) and the indented lines under them are the account groups of the fourth level.

• Every figure includes all the posting accounts beneath it.

The tiles above the sections show Total Debit, Total Credit and Total Balance for the period.

When to use it

• Month-end review: compare the size of each expense group with last month.

• Checking the chart of accounts: a group with an unexpected balance often reveals an account created in the wrong place.

• Preparing management packs: export the report to Excel and format it as you need.

Export

Use Export Excel or Export PDF. The file keeps the indentation of groups and sub-groups.

Common questions

Should Total Balance be zero? Yes, when every entry of the period is balanced within the branch, total debit equals total credit. A difference points to an entry that crosses branches or to an account outside the main groups. Investigate it with the trial balance.