The purpose of a trial balance is to verify that:

• A. Debits equal credits
• B. Assets equal liabilities
• C. Revenues equal expenses
• D. Cash equals bank balance

Answer: (A)

In double-entry bookkeeping, every transaction affects accounts on both sides by equal amounts. A trial balance is a listing of all ledger accounts with their balances, and its purpose is to check that the total on the debit side equals the total on the credit side. When the totals balance, it shows the ledger is arithmetically correct and ready for financial statement preparation. It does not prove that assets must equal liabilities, nor that revenues must equal expenses, nor that cash should equal the bank balance. Some mistakes can still hide behind a balanced trial balance, but equality of debits and credits is the essential check it provides.