Question

Which of the following errors would not be disclosed by preparation of a trial balance?

a) An error was made in computing the balance of the Cash account.
b) A journal entry included a debit to the Equipment account for $3,200, but this amount was erroneously posted as $2,300.
c) During the posting process, a $1,700 debit to Cash was accidentally entered in the credit side of the Cash account.
d) The journal entries recorded on the last day of the year have never been posted to the ledger.

Answer 1

The error that would not be disclosed by preparation of a trial balance is when the journal entries recorded on the last day of the year have never been posted to the ledger.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct option is d) The journal entries recorded on the last day of the year have never been posted to the ledger.

A trial balance is a list of all the general ledger accounts of a company and their balances. It is used to determine if the total debits and credits are equal, and if they are not equal, there is an error somewhere in the accounting records. However, the trial balance only ensures that the total debits equal the total credits and does not guarantee that all individual transactions have been recorded or posted correctly.

In the given options, errors a), b), and c) would all be disclosed by preparation of a trial balance because in all three cases, the debit and credit totals would not be equal. On the other hand, error d) would not be disclosed by preparation of a trial balance because the journal entries were never posted to the ledger, so they would not appear on the trial balance.