Reviewing the trial balance

The TB CY sheet is where classification happens. One row per ledger, and a filter that narrows it to what still needs you.

The columns

Ledger NameFrom Tally

As it is named in the books.

Parent Group, Main Group, Nature of Group, Tally GroupFrom Tally

Where the ledger sits in Tally's tree. Stronger evidence of what it is than the name.

Opening Balance, Transactions Debit, Transactions Credit, Closing BalanceFrom Tally

The figures as fetched. Closing balance is what gets classified.

Bifurcate BalanceYours to set

The non-current portion, where the grouping splits across the face. Headed 1) Non-Current 2) Trade Recv > 6 Mths on the sheet, with the remainder shown beside it.

C1 · StatementYours, usually pre-filled

Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss.

C2 · SideYours, usually pre-filled

Which half of that statement.

C3 · GroupingYours to set

Which note this ledger belongs to.

C4 · Sub-headYours to set

Which line inside that note.

C5 · DetailSometimes required

Named where the sub-head asks for it.

Status / ReviewComputed

Where this ledger stands, and why it is in the queue if it is.

The five run in that order and each opens the next: C2 stays closed until C1 is set, C3 until C2 is. Classification fills them in where it can, and every one of them is a dropdown you can change.

The filter

All ledgers

Everything, in trial balance order.

Needs a decision

What is unclassified, was rejected, or is a proposal waiting on you. Start here.

AI suggested

Classified automatically and awaiting your eye.

Confirmed

Settled — by you, or carried from last year.

Working Needs a decision to empty, then AI suggested, is the whole task.

Suggest classifications

Runs automatic classification over the ledgers that have none. Use it after a fetch, or after posting entries that added ledgers.

It will not overwrite a decision you have made. It can replace what the software worked out for itself — an unreviewed suggestion, or a classification carried from last year — when the current rules make something different of the current balance.

Setting a classification

Pick C3 · Grouping, then C4 · Sub-head. The sub-head list narrows to what is legal for that grouping and for this report's Net Block or Gross Block choice, so an impossible pair is not offered.

What the status on each row means

Six of them, and they are not interchangeable. Only the first two are a decision a person made.

ConfirmedYou approved the suggestion as it stood

Settled by you.

Changed by youYou overrode what was suggested

Settled by you, differently.

AI suggestionAwaiting your eye

Carries the model's confidence and its one-line reasoning, with Accept and Reject beside it.

Reused · previous yearCarried from last year's engagement

A decision you made last year, re-checked against this year's balance. It has not been looked at this year.

Rule appliedSettled by Tally's own group

Not a judgement — Tally's reserved group left only one answer. An overdraft under Bank OD A/c is a borrowing.

Pending reviewA proposal, not an answer

A rule proved which side of the sheet the balance belongs on but not which sub-head. A debtor carrying a credit balance is money held against a customer, so it is moved off the receivables line — but whether it is really an advance is yours to say. A tax ledger carrying a debit balance is input credit, so it is moved to Loans and Advances — which credit it is, is yours to say. A ledger under Deposits (Asset) is offered as a security deposit — confirm it is not a fixed deposit, and enter how much of it is long-term.

Last year's split is entered on TB PY

The comparatives column splits a balance between long-term and short-term on its own entry, not on this year's: what was long-term at last year's end is a fact about last year. The TB PY sheet's Non-Current cell takes it, and it is kept when you fetch again.

Editing a figure Tally gave you

The balances on this sheet are your client's books, and they stay that way. But an adjustment the client has not posted yet, or a balance you know to be wrong, sometimes has to reach the statements before Tally is corrected — so the opening and closing balances can be edited, behind a warning.

Enter the figure the way the sheet shows it: credit-positive, a debit balance negative. A note saying why is optional and is printed wherever the edit is reported. Fetching again keeps your edit and records Tally's current figure beside it.

When your answer and the balance disagree

Your classification always stands — nothing overrules a Chartered Accountant. But where it contradicts the ledger's own balance, the row says so in amber beneath the status.

The usual case is a balance that has moved since you decided: a supplier you classified as a payable who is now in debit. Left alone, that debit sits on the payables line and subtracts from the real creditors, and the face of the balance sheet shows only the difference.

Nothing is moved for you. The row tells you, and the Needs a decision filter brings it back so it cannot be lost.

Finding a ledger

Find a ledger… searches by name. Quicker than scrolling when you know what you are looking for.