Q.The following Trial Balance prepared by a trainee accountant does not agree. Locate the error and correct the Trial Balance: Capital ₹2,50,000 (Cr.); Furniture ₹60,000 (Dr.); Purchases ₹1,80,000 (Dr.); Sales ₹2,40,000 (Dr.) [should be Cr.]; Debtors ₹2,50,000 (Dr.); Creditors ₹40,000 (Cr.); Cash ₹40,000 (Dr.).

Sales, being an income, should always sit in the credit column — placing it on the debit side by mistake is exactly the kind of slip that makes a Trial Balance disagree.

Step 1 — Total the Trial Balance as given.

Debit column (as given, with Sales wrongly included): 60,000 + 1,80,000 + 2,40,000 + 2,50,000 + 40,000 = ₹7,70,000

Credit column (as given): 2,50,000 + 40,000 = ₹2,90,000

The two totals (₹7,70,000 vs ₹2,90,000) clearly disagree — difference = ₹4,80,000.

Step 2 — Locate the error. Sales A/c is an income (Nominal Account, credited under 'credit all incomes and gains'), and normally carries a credit balance — but it has been placed in the debit column by mistake.

Step 3 — Correct it. Move Sales ₹2,40,000 from the debit column to the credit column. Note that moving one figure from one side to the other changes each column by that same amount, so the gap closes by twice the amount moved (2 × ₹2,40,000 = ₹4,80,000) — which exactly matches the original difference found in Step 1, confirming this was indeed the only error.

Corrected Trial Balance:

Verification: Debit total = 60,000 + 1,80,000 + 2,50,000 + 40,000 = ₹5,30,000. Credit total = 2,50,000 + 2,40,000 + 40,000 = ₹5,30,000. Both match — the Trial Balance now agrees.

Total both columns as originally given to confirm disagreement and measure the gap; scan each line for an account placed on the side opposite to its normal nature (here, an income shown as a debit); move it to the correct side and re-total both columns to confirm agreement — the gap should always equal exactly twice the misplaced amount when a single item has been placed on the wrong side.

Assuming the ₹4,80,000 difference must be plugged with a brand-new missing figure, rather than first checking whether an existing item was simply placed in the wrong column — here the entire gap is explained once Sales is moved to its correct (credit) side, and no new figure needs to be invented at all.