Give the advantages and short falls of the Trial Balance

Advantages (objectives of trial balance)

1. It ensures that the transactions recorded in the books of accounts have identical debit and credit amount.
2. Balance of each ledger account has been computed correctly.
3. Balance of each and every ledger account has been transferred accurately and on the correct side of the sheet on which trial balance has been prepared.
4. The debit and the credit columns of trial balance have been added up correctly.
5. Preparation of final accounts is not possible without preparing trial balance first.
6. Agreed trial balance is a prima facie evidence of the arithmetical accuracy of the accounting books maintained.
7. Errors which are revealed by preparing trial balance (listed below) are rectified even before the preparation of final accounts.

Trial balance limitations - shortcomings of trial balance

1. All transactions have been correctly analyzed and recorded in proper accounts. For example wages paid for installation of fixed asset might have wrongly been debited to wages account.
2. All the transactions have been recorded and nothing has been omitted.
3. Certain types of errors (listed below) remain undetected even after the preparation of trial balance.