What is entered in the suspense account to help balance the trial balance?

What is entered in the suspense account to help balance the trial balance?

• A. The total of all debits
• B. The difference between the debit and credit totals
• C. The total credits
• D. Nothing; suspense is not used

Answer: (B)

When a trial balance doesn’t balance, a suspense account is used as a temporary place to hold the difference so the accounting records can show a balanced set while errors or omissions are investigated. The amount put into the suspense account is exactly the difference between the debit and credit totals. If the debit total is higher, you post the difference to the suspense account on the credit side; if the credit total is higher, you post the difference to the suspense account on the debit side. This brings the trial balance to equality and signals what amount still needs to be located and corrected. For example, if debits total 9,500 and credits total 9,300, the difference is 200, so 200 is posted to suspense to balance the totals, and later the correct entries are made to remove the suspense.

When a trial balance doesn’t balance, a suspense account is used as a temporary place to hold the difference so the accounting records can show a balanced set while errors or omissions are investigated. The amount put into the suspense account is exactly the difference between the debit and credit totals. If the debit total is higher, you post the difference to the suspense account on the credit side; if the credit total is higher, you post the difference to the suspense account on the debit side. This brings the trial balance to equality and signals what amount still needs to be located and corrected. For example, if debits total 9,500 and credits total 9,300, the difference is 200, so 200 is posted to suspense to balance the totals, and later the correct entries are made to remove the suspense.