Solution Properties
Solution ID:
222924350018748
Last Modified Date:
Thu Sep 24 14:51:07 UTC 2026
Taxonomy Path:
Category//Transactions//Corrections
Author:
sageadmin
Resolve General Ledger Out of Balance issues
Description
Cause
Resolution

Summary Balance versus Ending Balance

Summary balance 

  • Represents the cumulative balance carried forward each month.
  • Appears on financial statements and summary reports.
  • This can include amounts even when supporting journal detail is missing.

Ending balance

  • Represents the total of journal entry debits and credits.
  • Uses the journal detail displayed on the report.
  • This can differ from the Summary Balance when journal detail or summary data is incomplete.

Determine if the summary or ending balance is incorrect

Review a detailed trial balance to determine which balance is incorrect.

NOTE:

The ending balance is the summation of the journal entries shown on the report. The beginning balance comes from the initial balances for the month.

  1. Select GL, Reports, Trial Balance, Trial Balance - Detailed.
  2. Review the report for accounts displaying out-of-balance errors.
  3. If you can't identify the affected accounts, run the Summary Trial Balance.
  4. Select GL, Reports, Trial Balance, Summary Trial Balance.
  5. Select the current month for the Reporting period.
  6. Preview the report and export it to Excel.
  7. Calculate Beginning Balance + Debits - Credits for each account.
  8. Compare your calculated amount with the report's Ending Balance.
  9. Identify accounts where the calculated amount and Ending Balance differ.

If the ending balance is incorrect

If you don't need the missing journal detail:

  • Document the difference.
  • Don't create an adjusting General Ledger entry because it changes the Summary Balance.

If you need to restore the missing detail:

  1. Reenter the missing journal entry.
  2. Select GL, Close, Close the current month.
  3. Perform GLINITBAL using the instructions in Out-of-Balance error messages.pdf.
  4. Confirm the Summary and Detailed Trial Balance reports display the corrected balances.
    • Run GLINITBAL after reentering missing detail so previous months display correctly on the Summary and Detailed Trial Balance.

If the summary balance is incorrect

  1. Select GL, Close, Close the current month.
  2. Perform GLINITBAL using the instructions in Out-of-Balance error messages.pdf.
  3. Confirm the Summary and Detailed Trial Balance reports display the corrected balances.

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