Does your trial balance tie?

If the totals disagree, investigate before mapping

1. Check the right columns. A report may have opening, movement and closing debit/credit pairs. Do not compare an opening debit total with a closing credit total. For a closing TB import, choose the closing pair.
2. Exclude report totals and repeated headings. Select account detail only. Importing the grand total as another account can duplicate balances. A title row or a subtotal can also be mistaken for a data row.
3. Check signs and units. Enter debit and credit totals as positive amounts here. In a signed-balance file, use one consistent debit-positive or credit-positive convention. Confirm whether the report is in whole currency units or thousands.
4. Compare with the source. Recalculate formula workbooks and save them before importing. Excel may display rounded values while storing more decimal places. CloseSentry's workspace offers explicit rounding or strict precision validation.
5. Trace missing or duplicated accounts. Compare source row counts and account codes. Leading zeroes belong to the identifier. Do not repair an unexplained difference by posting to suspense merely to get an export.

A difference divisible by nine can be a clue to a transposition; a difference twice an amount can be a clue to a reversed sign. Neither is proof. Use the source records to identify the actual error.

A worked example that ties—but still needs review

The difference is zero. But a fully omitted transaction, a duplicate balanced journal or an expense posted to the wrong account can still leave both sides equal. A tied TB is a starting control, not audit assurance.

This example is fictitious. Use the CSV as a closing TB, not as a transaction-level ledger. Select the reporting period and confirm the P&L basis before preparing drafts.