Closing the books on an accounting period is a lengthy and complex process. No matter how complex, it needs to start somewhere. For every company, big or small, it starts with a trial balance. This is ...

The rows of an accounting worksheet -- also known as a trial balance worksheet -- list the accounts of a small business. The columns represent some of the stages of the accounting cycle, starting with ...

A trial balance is a listing of a company's accounts and balances. This report may not be the most exciting output of a small business accounting system, but it gives the user a full glimpse of the ...

Many accountants have made the investment in a write-up package. With this investment already made, they often use the write-up software even when it may not be the best tool for the task.Many ...

As computers became ubiquitous in accounting practices, the focus shifted from trial balance to write-up. Still, while not as popular with accountants as in its heyday, trial balance software ...

Charlene Rhinehart is a CPA , CFE, chair of an Illinois CPA Society committee, and has a degree in accounting and finance from DePaul University. The balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow ...

Joseph Nguyen is a contributing author at Investopedia and a research analyst with experience at a securities brokerage firm. Charlene Rhinehart is a CPA , CFE, chair of an Illinois CPA Society ...

Many financial systems do a fine job of generating standard reports, but accountants often need more. In those cases, accountants can create custom solutions in Excel, but that approach has drawbacks.