[KalyanC]

Hi,
I have a problem with balancing my trail balance.
I think its because two of my expense accounts have negative totals in the ledger.

Electricty
Jul 1 2320 Cr
Jul 8 1909 Dr
Total (411)

Telephone
Jul 1 290 Cr
Jul 9 318 Dr
Total (28)

Where do I post these totals in the trial balance, in the Debit or Credit collumn?

Thanks.

[rehmanvohra]

You need to analyze each entry in the expense account. On the face of it, I would assume these credit balances as accruals. These will be shown as current liabilities.

[morgaine300]

It likely may be too late for this particular problem, but since journal entries, posting, trial balances, etc. are not going away, there's still something to be learned here.

First, you put in your trial balance exactly what is in your account, because you are only copying the numbers that are there. If something doesn't seem right about it, then you have to go back further to find out what the problem is.

First of all, the balance in the telephone account isn't negative. However, it is unusual to have credits in expense accounts. It doesn't mean they don't happen - for instance if you paid someone for work that was badly done and they gave you a partial refund you could subtract that off a recorded expense. You won't see that type of thing in textbook problems very often but they do happen. (I think just to make you think.)

So I have to question why you have credits in two expense accounts. Meaning something possibly being posted incorrectly from the journal - and that too is just copying exactly what you had in the journal. Or there's a mistake in the journal entry itself, as that is what determines what you debit & credit. Posting and trial balances are only carrying forward exactly what you did in the journal entry.

If you have more trouble like this, I would suggest checking what you're doing in those initial journal entries.