How do I find out where a data inconsistency is between debits and credits?

Question

I ran a data integrity report and everything is balanced except my total debits and credits. I have run an "ALL JOURNALS" report going back to our first year of operation in 2011 and every year shows a balance between total debits and credits. Where else can I go to try to find out what's amiss? Is there a general entry type that typically results in this sort of inconsistency when all other accounts are in balance? I have run the database utility with no errors detected.

Richard S. Ridings · Accepted Answer

This may have been something that has carried over from previous years. Sometimes this happens at year end when the balance of the Current Earnings on the Balance sheet at year end, does not update the Retained Earnings for the start of the new year. I've fixed several files in the last year that had this problem but all were from years previous to last year. 
 If this is the problem, Sage Tech Support can fix the problem by phone if it occurred between last fiscal year and this fiscal year. If the problem started before last year, Sage Tech Support will usually plug the number at the start of the current year to fix the balance. 
 To find this particular problem, you can run the Comparative Balance Sheet for the first day of the fiscal year vs. the last day of the previous fiscal year. Check to make sure no journal entries were posted to the first day of the fiscal year in the first column in the Retained Earnings account. Check the math to see if last year's Current Earnings plus last year's Retained Earnings match the first year's Retained Earnings. 
 Do this for each fiscal year transition going backwards until you find it. 
 Sometimes you can run the Trial Balance on the last day of the year and find it unbalanced while it will be balanced for the second last day of the fiscal year (or latest transaction date vs. the day before that if it is the current year). This means the cumulative totals were not updated properly. More current versions of the program do not show this but older versions may. 
 These may not be the issues your file is experiencing but they are things that happens enough that they should be looked at. 
 cdnofficemgr said: Is there a general entry type that typically results in this sort of inconsistency when all other accounts are in balance? 
 None that I know of. This is usually an internal math problem that only rarely occurs.

Sage 50 Canada

How do I find out where a data inconsistency is between debits and credits?

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