Lesson Three: Preparing an Unadjusted Trial Balance

Before we dive right in, let’s review the general steps of the accounting cycle. As a note, these steps may differ slightly from your textbook, so please be sure to compare this resource to your textbook’s presentation of the accounting cycle.

Journalize general journal entries for business transactions throughout the accounting period
Post each journal entry to the general ledger
Prepare an unadjusted trial balance
Journalize adjusting entries
Post each adjusting entry to the general ledger
Prepare an adjusted trial balance
Prepare the company’s financial statements
Journalize closing entries
Post closing entries to the general ledger
Prepare a post-closing trial balance

In this lesson, we will review the third step of the accounting cycle: preparing an unadjusted trial balance. The unadjusted trial balance shows the balance in each account prior to preparing the company’s adjusting entries (step 4 of our accounting cycle).