A trial balance is a list of all the debit balances and credit balances on the general ledger accounts. If the double-entry principles have been applied correctly to all the items in the general ledger, then the total of the entries on the debit side should agree with the total on the credit side.

It is used to check the arithmetical accuracy of the accounting system and serves as a first step in the preparation of financial statements.

Explanation:
The trial balance lists the balances from all ledger accounts to ensure the total debits equal total credits, confirming accurate application of the double-entry system. While it checks for arithmetic correctness, it doesn’t guarantee there are no errors like omissions, compensating errors, or transpositions.