Suspense account
A suspense account is a temporary account that holds a trial balance's imbalance until each underlying error is found and corrected, after which its balance clears to zero.
See it move
A trial balance shows total debits of €54,000 against total credits of €52,700, so a suspense account opens with a €1,300 credit balance. The missing entry — a €1,300 rent payment debited to expense but never credited to bank — is posted as a correcting journal entry, clearing the account to €0.
The formula
Variables
- Suspense account balance (€)
- Total debits on the trial balance (€)
- Total credits on the trial balance (€)
The suspense account is opened for the exact shortfall needed to make total debits equal total credits on the trial balance.
Check yourself
A trial balance shows total debits of €76,900 and total credits of €75,600. A suspense account is opened for the difference. It later turns out that a €1,300 receipt from a customer was correctly debited to the bank account but was never posted to the receivables account. What is the balance on the suspense account after this single correcting entry is posted?