trial balance

[99.95]

what does the figure at the bottom of trial balance indicate? e.g. if the business had a trial balance of $223900 at 1st july and 31st july had trial balance of $242050, what can be concluded?

in the cambridge example they  say net loss of $1850. 

[Aqualim]

Where in the cambridge book does it say this?

[99.95]

Where in the cambridge book does it say this?

Example Q 6.11 pg 120 bottom of the page. last question

[Aqualim]

ok Kit is incorrect because Capital and drawings weren't the only figures that are included in the Owners Equity column, by the sounds of it, a Net loss was included, and therefore affected owners equity. So yeah, the trial balance doesn't have any effect on owners equity, it just adds up all the debits and credits to determine whether you were correct with the placement of your debits and credits.

[99.95]

ok Kit is incorrect because Capital and drawings weren't the only figures that are included in the Owners Equity column, by the sounds of it, a Net loss was included, and therefore affected owners equity. So yeah, the trial balance doesn't have any effect on owners equity, it just adds up all the debits and credits to determine whether you were correct with the placement of your debits and credits.

awsum. Thanks for clearing that up

[Yitzi_K]

what does the figure at the bottom of trial balance indicate? e.g. if the business had a trial balance of $223900 at 1st july and 31st july had trial balance of $242050, what can be concluded?

in the cambridge example they  say net loss of $1850. 

The trial balance figure tells you nothing at all. The only important thing is that the figures balance; all debits in the general ledger MUST equal all the credits.

If the two numbers are not equal, you've made a mistake somewhere, most likely a recording error or calculation error.

N.B. just because the trial balance balances does NOT mean your general ledger is perfect and free from error. There are several errors which would not be detected using a trial balance, eg omitting a transaction completely, or incorrectly entering both sides of a transaction.

[TrueTears]

Yeap and following on from Yitzi_K, you could have also posted an entry twice, or you could have posted incorrectly, ie, debited rent expense rather than debiting electricity expense. Or you could have accidentally debited and credited the wrong side of the transaction even if you have the right accounts.