Common questions about the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility

In this article, you can find solutions to frequently-asked questions about the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility.

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What is the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility?

The Lacerte Trial Balance Utility is a tool within Lacerte designed to maximize productivity for accountants' year-end tax customers. It includes integration with most accounting software through Excel and imports directly from QuickBooks and EasyACCT.  You can use this utility to make adjusting journal entries, print trial balance reports and financial statements, and utilize SmartMap on all imported files.

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How is the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility different from SmartMap?

SmartMap is a feature within the Trial Balance Utility that removes most of the setup work required to assign tax pages and lines to trial balance accounts originating from QuickBooks and EasyACCT. This feature is available free of charge.

The expanded functionality within the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility allows you to...

• Integrate with any accounting software that can export to Excel
• Set up your own chart of accounts from scratch
• Make book and tax adjusting journal entries
• Apply the SmartMap technology to all your files
• Generate a basic balance sheet or income statement
• Export to Excel

... and much more.

This tool includes important time-saving features like copying a chart of accounts from one client to another, auto-recognition of account names, and carrying over accounts and journal entries from year to year. This feature is available for an additional charge and is licensed separately from Lacerte.

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What is SmartMap?

SmartMap is a tool that uses patent-pending innovation to remove much of the time-consuming setup involved in assigning tax pages and lines to trial balance accounts. Below is some useful information about SmartMap:

• The SmartMap database auto-assigns tax pages and lines, so most of the setup work is done automatically.
• SmartMap thinks for you by presenting the Lacerte input screens, in order, to drag-and-drop accounts.
• The SmartMap database works across the entire tax module, so any assignments you make are saved and applied to all other clients.

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Does the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility work for all Lacerte modules?

The Trial Balance Utility works for the following tax modules:

• Individual (1040)
• Partnership (1065)
• Corporate (1120)
• S-Corporate (1120S)
• Fiduciary (1041)
• Exempt Org. (990)

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Where can I get more information about using Lacerte Trial Balance Utility?

See the video here for more information about using this tool.

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Prior Year Trial Balance Amounts and Mapping Data is Missing In the Current Year

Importing data within the Trial Balance Utility, the prior year balances and prior year mapping data is no longer included, and two companies are listed when you click on the "Open" button in the upper left-hand corner.

This occurs when the file name does not match the one utilized in the prior year.  When the file names are different, Lacerte Trial Balance Utility will create a new trial balance for the newly imported data. The original data still exist and can be viewed by clicking the "Open" button in the upper left corner of the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility.

Please ensure your file name matches EXACTLY the same as what was utilized in the prior year.

Note: On Excel files, the name of the worksheet tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet must match what was utilized in the prior year as well.

Some Common Items that Create a Difference

• Dates utilized within the file name (e.g. "Company_A_2012.QBW")
• Different naming convention (e.g. "Company A.xls" rather than "Company_A.xls")
• A different file name

Note: Verify that the correct form is selected, such as 1065, 1120S, 8825, et cetera.  If the company is linked to different form from last year, then the mapping may be incorrect.

Trial Balance Utility will not post to Accounts

This issue usually occurs when trial balance data was previously posted to the return and later manually removed in Lacerte. Even though the data no longer appears on the return, the Trial Balance Utility still retains a record that the amounts were posted. You’ll need to clear that posting history before the data can be posted again.

Steps to clear posted data in the Trial Balance Utility

From the Tax Line Assignments tab (where the Options column appears to the right of the account list):

1. Press Ctrl + A to select all accounts.
2. Select Unpost Selected.
3. Close the Trial Balance Utility without reposting the data.
   • Note: Reposting at this stage will recreate the issue and require you to start over.
4. Reopen the Trial Balance Utility.
5. Select Post to Tax Return.

If the account(s) still won’t post, hover over the Options column for the affected account and confirm it doesn't display NOT TO POST.

This procedure only applies when data was previously posted. If accounts have never posted, review mapping and form assignments instead.

If the accounts still won’t post

Hover over the Options column for the account that isn’t posting and confirm it does not display NOT TO POST.