Help Centre · Corporation Tax · 2 min read

Getting your numbers in: the trial balance

Import from Xero, QuickBooks or a spreadsheet, or key the trial balance by hand - then make sure it balances.

Tax Optimiser Updated 12 Jun 2026

Everything downstream — the statutory accounts, the tax computation and the CT600 — is built from the period's trial balance, so this is the step to get right. Open your accounting period and choose Trial Balance from the left menu.

Four ways to bring figures in

When a period has no data yet you're offered four routes:

  • Connect to Xero or Connect to QuickBooks — authorise once and your year-end trial balance syncs across, mapped to the statutory account headings.
  • Import from spreadsheet — upload an Excel/CSV trial balance export from any other bookkeeping system. See Import a trial balance from a spreadsheet for the full walkthrough, including templates for Xero and Sage 50 exports and AI-assisted account mapping.
  • Manual entry — type the figures straight into a structured grid. This is also where you review and adjust whatever you imported.

The manual entry grid

The grid is organised in the same groupings as the statutory accounts — Turnover, Other income, Cost of raw materials, Staff costs, Depreciation, Other charges, then the balance sheet headings. Each named account row has four columns: Debit and Credit for the current year, and Comp Debit/Comp Credit for the comparative year. Use the search box to jump to an account by name, and Hide Zero to collapse everything you haven't used.

The manual trial balance entry grid, organised by statutory account headings

Enter each balance against the most specific account that matches — the account you pick drives both where the figure lands in the accounts and how the tax computation treats it. For example, Client Entertaining and Charitable Donations have their own rows so the tax side can pick them up later; depreciation belongs on the Depreciation rows with the matching balance-sheet movement under fixed assets.

The trial balance grid with sales and other figures entered, showing per-section totals

Check it balances

Every section shows a running total and the Grand Total at the bottom must show equal debits and credits for each year before you move on. Save All stores the grid; the period Overview checklist ticks off Trial Balance once balanced data is present.

The trial balance grand total showing equal debit and credit totals for both years

Journals

If you need year-end adjustments without changing the imported figures — accruals, prepayments, reclassifications — use the Journals area on the Trial Balance screen. A presentation journal adjusts the final trial balance while leaving the imported figures untouched, so you keep a clean audit trail back to your bookkeeping system.

Next: Building the Corporation Tax computation.

The short version

Getting your numbers in: the trial balance — in brief

The trial balance drives the statutory accounts, the computation and the CT600. Bring it in from Xero or QuickBooks, upload a spreadsheet, or key it manually into the structured grid.

Each row maps to a statutory accounts heading, with current-year and comparative columns. Pick the most specific account - entertaining, donations and depreciation rows matter to the tax computation later.

The grand total must show equal debits and credits before you move on, and presentation journals let you adjust without touching imported figures.