Final answer:
A trial balance may become unbalanced if a credit is incorrectly recorded as a debit. While the misclassification of an expense will not cause an imbalance, forgetting to journalize or post a journal entry could potentially do so if it disrupts the overall balance. However, recording a credit as a debit will directly cause the trial balance to be out of balance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns a scenario where a trial balance may be out of balance. To determine which actions might cause this issue, we need to understand each situation:
- A debit to Office Equipment is incorrectly debited to Office Supplies. This action will not cause the trial balance to be off balance, as the total debits still equal the total credits—though the amounts are in the wrong accounts.
- The bookkeeper forgot to journalize a transaction. This could cause a trial balance to be out of balance if the transaction involves different amounts for its debit and credit sides, or if it's completely omitted.
- The bookkeeper forgot to post a journal entry to the ledger. Like the previous point, it can result in an imbalance if it results in a mismatch between the total debits and credits due to the omission.
- A credit was posted to an account as a debit. This would directly cause an imbalance because it would increase the debits without increasing the credits by the same amount.
In conclusion, option d, where a credit was posted as a debit, will definitely cause a trial balance to be out of balance.