When people recorded transactions manually, they used the trial balance to ensure there were no calculation errors. The trial balance had to add to zero. If the trial balance didn't equal zero, it meant an amount in a transaction was transposed or entered incorrectly as a debit or credit. The difference between the debit and credit columns could lead you to find and correct the error.Modern accounting systems can identify these types of errors before you run a trial balance. However, trial balances still have some important uses. Internally, managers or business owners may want to see all of the business's account balances in one easy-to-read report. Because the financial statements are derived from the account balances in the general ledger, you can use the trial balance to identify the amounts that make up certain line items on these reports. This makes the trial balance a vital part of financial statement analysis.External auditors may propose adjustments to general ledger accounts based on their findings during a financial audit. As the business owner or manager, you can run a trial balance to show the balances in each account before and after proposed audit adjustments. In this instance, the report is called an adjusted trial balance. It shows columns for the original balances, the proposed adjustments, and the account balances after the adjustments.