Final answer:
An accountant should prepare a trial balance just before preparing financial statements in the accounting cycle.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the accounting cycle, an accountant should prepare a trial balance just before preparing financial statements.
The trial balance is a list of all the accounts and their balances at a specific point in time, usually at the end of an accounting period.
It's used to ensure that the debits and credits in the accounting records are in balance before preparing the financial statements.