Help Centre · Working Papers · 2 min read

Working through the trial balance: confirming balances, notes and supporting documents

Use the Trial Balance tab of a working paper to compare each balance with last year, tick it as confirmed, explain it in a note and attach the evidence.

Tax Optimiser Updated 4 Oct 2026

The first tab of a working paper is the client’s trial balance, laid out for checking. For each balance you can record that it has been agreed, say what it was agreed to, and attach the evidence.

Open a working paper

Open the client’s accounting period and choose Working Papers in the period menu, or pick the period from the firm’s Working Papers list. The trial balance has to be in first: import it or enter it as usual.

A working paper on the Trial Balance tab with the Current assets and Creditors groups open: Cash at bank ticked as confirmed with a note, Trade creditors with a review point badge

Balances are grouped under the same headings as the accounts. Click a heading to open it. Only accounts with a balance this year or last year are listed.

Reading a line

  • Balance and Previous Balance are this year and the comparative year. Credit balances are shown in brackets.
  • Difference and % Diff show the movement, which is where an analytical review starts: a balance that has moved by a third deserves an explanation.
  • Balance Confirmed is your tick that the balance has been agreed.
  • Note and the two Actions icons are covered below.

Confirm a balance

Tick Balance Confirmed once the figure has been agreed to its evidence. It is saved straight away and the line is highlighted, so the balances still to do stand out.

Add a note

Click the Note box on the line, type what was done and click Save. Say what the balance was agreed to and anything a reviewer would otherwise have to ask.

The Add Note window with a note explaining that cash at bank was agreed to the bank statement

The note prints under the line in the working papers report.

Attach supporting documents

  1. Click the document icon in Actions.
  2. Under Upload, choose the file. PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, JPG and PNG files up to 20 MB are accepted.
  3. The file appears under Files, linked to the line you opened it from.
The supporting documents window for Cash at bank: an uploaded bank statement on the left, and the list of trial balance lines on the right with Cash at bank linked

One document often supports several balances. Click the link icon beside a file to show every line of the trial balance on the right, then click the link icon on each line the document supports. Click it again to unlink. The other two icons download the file and preview it.

On the Trial Balance screen, the number beside each line’s document icon is how many files are linked to it.

Doing the same from the Trial Balance screen

You do not have to open the working paper to record evidence. The three icons at the end of each line on the Trial Balance screen open the same note, review point and documents windows, which is handy while the figures are still being entered.

Next: Review points.

The short version

Working through the trial balance: confirming balances, notes and supporting documents — in brief

The Trial Balance tab lists each balance beside last year's, with the difference in pounds and per cent.

Tick Balance Confirmed when a figure has been agreed; it saves immediately and highlights the line.

Click the Note box to record what the balance was agreed to. Notes print in the working papers report.

Upload supporting documents from the Actions icon. One file can be linked to several trial balance lines.