Note:
The comments below relate to Classic MYOB® products (up to v19.16). If you experience 'out of balance' errors in AR2024, based on hundreds of forums posts, the cause is probably a bug in the program and you will need to send your file to MYOB for a free repair.

Classic MYOB®
From time to time users notice that their accounts are out of balance. You might spot this on your Balance Sheet Report or Trial Balance Report - compare Net Assets with Equity. Unfortunately MYOB rarely points out any such discrepancy.

The out of balance trial balance, or balance sheet is caused by either an 'error' (which a user can fix) or by a 'corruption' in the file (which a user cannot fix).

Errors
Sometimes a transaction will be out of balance because the Tax component was not correctly calculated. You need to find the transaction, open it, open the tax window and 'recalculate' the tax. In most cases this resolves the out of balance. See below for 'Finding the Transactions'.

Corruptions
A transaction might also be out of balance because a 'transaction line' is missing. In your MYOB® company file, every transaction consists of 3 or more lines (one for each line you see in the transaction journal + 1). Sometimes, one or more lines might not record properly. Or sometimes when a transaction is being deleted, MYOB® may not delete every line.

The usual cause is due to a momentary network or other communication interruption, for example while writing to a USB flashdrive, or during intense hard disk activity such as a anti-virus scan.

The missing lines cause an out of balance. Sometimes, but not always, the missing lines may also result in an error while Verifying or Optimising your file.

Checking your File
One quick way to check if there is a problem in your file is to open the Accounts List, and check that the total from the Asset tab (Assets 1-0000), less the total from the Liabilities Tab (Liabilities 2-0000) equals the total from the Equity Tab (3-0000 Equity). If not you have a problem, as you can see if you do the sums on the images below:











Finding the Transaction(s)
If the 'faulty' transaction is still in your file, you can find it by doing a Transaction Journal Report. Under the Accounts tab, look for Transaction Journal and choose General Journal. Customise to select dates covering all transactions in your file, and for Source Journal select All. See image below:



Note - if you have a large file, you may get a Termination Code 1215 error. This is not unusual with large files, especially if you have other programs running at the same time. Try doing each Source Journal individually instead, rather than selecting All.

Check if the resulting report is balanced by comparing the totals at the end of the report. If it is balanced, then the error was from a purged transaction or period. If the report is unbalanced, re-run the report for each of the source journals individually (General, Sales. Purchases etc) to see which is out of balance.

Once you have found the relevant Journal, narrow down the dates. Eventually you will see which transaction(s) is out of balance.

One of several problems in the above file was narrowed down to the Sales Journal - see here the totals do not match:



One of several 'faulty' transactions is shown below - see how parts of #00032059 have attached themselves to the next available transaction #00032058:



If you are able to locate the 'faulty' transaction in your file, before doing anything, make a backup. Then locate this transaction in the Transaction Journal. If all the lines are there and there is an 'out of balance' amount showing, open the Tax window and choose Recalculate. See if this resolves the 'out of balance'.

If not, try deleting and re-entering that transaction. If this fails to resolve the issue, you should check recent backups to see if one is 'error free'.

Failing that, your file will need repair to clean up the transactions and update the internal tables. MYOB® will not allow you to enter a one sided journal to balance your accounts.