Trial Balance- Rectification of

errors
Errors
In Trial Balance, there may be some errors of the following types remaining
undisclosed
• Omission of an entry
Entry has not been recorded in the book either Debit or Credit side
• A wrong entry in a subsidiary book
Ex: If a credit purchase of Rs. 465 is wrongly posted as Rs. 564
• Posting an item to the correct side but in the wrong account
Ex: Purchase of Rs. 500 from Vasant Desai has been credited to Himanshu desai instead of Vasant
Desai.
• Compensating errors
Ex: Under posting of Rs. 500 on the debit side of a certain A/C would be compensated by
underposting of Rs. 100 on the credit side of another A/C and an omission of credit posting of Rs.
400 to a third A/C.
• Errors of principle
Ex: Rs. 6,550 spent on extension of building wrongly debited to Repairs A/C instead of Building
A/C will not affect the Trial Balance.
A book-keeper, taking out a trial balance as on 30th June, 1996, found that it
did not agree. He proceeded to check the entries and discovered the following
errors:
1. A credit sale of Rs. 1,000 to Ajay had been correctly entered in the sales
book but Ajay’s A/C had been debited with Rs. 100 only.
2. Rs. 2,500 paid to Ram had been wrongly posted to shyam.
3. Rs. 100 owing by a customer had been ommitted from the list of sundry
debtors
4. The discount column of the cash book representing discounted allowed to
customers has been over-added by Rs. 10
5. Goods worth Rs. 100 taken by the proprietor omitted to be recorded in the
books.
6. Depreciation on furniture, Rs. 100, had not been posted to depreciation
A/c
7. The total of sales book had been added Rs. 1,000 short.
Which of the above errors caused the totals of the trial balance to disagree and
by how much did the totals differ?
Solution
The effect of the above noted errors on the Trial Balance will be as follows:

1.Ajay’s A/C has been given less debit for Rs. 900, so the debit side of the
Trial Balance would be short by Rs. 900.
2.This error will not affect the agreement of the trial balance because the
amount paid has been posted to the right side through to a wrong A/C.
3.Sundry debtors have been shown in the Trial Balance with a less amount of
Rs. 100, so debit side of the trial balance is short by Rs. 100.
4.Discount A/C has been given an excess debit of Rs.10 so debit side of the
trial balance exceeds by Rs. 10.
5.This error will not have no effect because the dual aspect of the entry has
been omitted.
6.Depreciation on Furniture has not been debited to Depeciation A/C, so debit
side of the Trial Balance will be Rs. 100 too short.
7.Sales A/C has been given less credit for Rs. 1,000, so, credit side of the trial
balance would be short by Rs. 1,000.
The combined effect of all the errors is that the credit side of the
Trial Balance would exceed the debit side by Rs. 90.