Suspense Account

When a Trial Balance fails to agree, and the difference cannot be located immediately, the difference is temporarily transferred to a Suspense Account — opened specifically to hold this unexplained difference so that the Trial Balance can be shown as balancing (and, if needed, the final accounts can even be tentatively prepared) while the search for the actual error(s) continues.

The Suspense Account is entered with the exact amount by which the Trial Balance was short on the deficient side — if the debit column fell short, the Suspense Account is debited with the shortfall (a fictitious 'debit' entry, standing in for whatever hasn't yet been correctly recorded); if the credit column fell short, the Suspense Account is credited. …