Tablora · Library
Check a zero balance with signed lines
Lines of 25.00, -10.00 and -15.00 add to exactly 0.00. A zero result confirms the arithmetic only, not that the record set is complete.
When cancelling entries add to zero
Clearing accounts, settled invoices, transfers between your own accounts and fully refunded orders often end at zero: a charge, then payments or credits that cancel it. Checking that these lines add up to exactly zero is a common reconciliation step, and decimal arithmetic makes the check precise: there is no tiny remainder from floating-point rounding to explain away.
The decimal totals checker keeps every sign you enter and compares the exact sum with the target you state.
The same check works for any target, such as a closing balance; zero is just the case where every line is expected to cancel.
25.00, -10.00 and -15.00
The page example enters three lines, 25.00, -10.00 and -15.00, with an Expected total of 0.00. The Calculated total is 0.00, the Difference is 0.00 and Totals match shows Yes. The charge of 25.00 is cancelled exactly by the two negative lines.
Steps for a zero-target check
- Enter every line that belongs to the balance, keeping the sign each one has in the source.
- Convert any parentheses, trailing minus or DR suffix with the numeric normalizer first; the checker accepts only a leading minus.
- Put 0.00 in Expected total, with the same number of decimal places as the lines.
- Press Calculate and read Difference as well as Totals match.
- If the Difference is not zero, read its sign: positive means the charges outweigh the credits, negative the other way round.
- The result is shown at the larger scale of the lines and the target, so 0 and 0.00 in Expected total give the same answer.
What a zero does not prove
A matching zero says the entered numbers cancel. It does not say that every relevant record was entered. If you leave Values empty and enter 0.00 as the expected total, the checker also reports a Calculated total of 0.00 and Totals match Yes, because the sum of no lines is zero. Before trusting a zero, count the lines you entered against the source.
Zero also does not mean the account was independently reconciled. A missing charge and a missing payment of the same amount leave the total at zero, and so does a duplicated pair. Compare the record set itself with the source, not only its sum.
Signs read from a statement
If the lines were read by the Tablora app, a lost minus turns a credit into a charge and moves the result away from zero by twice that amount. Check amber cells and the sign of each credit against the Source · page view first.
Original synthetic example
- Values
- 25.00 -10.00 -15.00
- Expected total
- 0.00
- Calculated total
- 0.00
- Calculated minus expected
- 0.00