How to Break Down a Trial Balance Using the Schedule Nominal Report

The Schedule Nominal Report allows you to break down a balance shown on your Trial Balance into more detailed information, such as individual Sales Ledger accounts or vehicle stock numbers.

This is particularly useful when reconciling your accounts, investigating unexpected balances or identifying which transactions contribute to a nominal account total.

1. Open the Schedule Nominal Report

1. Navigate to Nominal Ledger > Reports.

2. Select Schedule Nominal.

3. Enter the nominal code you want to investigate.

4. Choose how you want the balance to be broken down using the Schedule By option.

5. Enter the date you want to report up to.

6. Click Report.

Navigator will generate a breakdown of the selected nominal account.

2. How to Break Down a Sales Ledger Balance

For example, your Trial Balance may show a total amount outstanding on your Sales Ledger control account.

However, you may want to identify which individual customer accounts make up that balance.

To do this:

1. Open Nominal Ledger > Reports > Schedule Nominal.

2. Enter your Sales Ledger control nominal code.

3. Under Schedule By, select Sales Ledger Account Number.

4. Enter the required reporting date.

5. Click Report.

Navigator will break down the nominal balance by individual Sales Ledger account.

Example:

Your Trial Balance shows a Sales Ledger balance of £15,000.

The Schedule Nominal Report might show:

This allows you to see which customer accounts contribute to the overall Trial Balance figure.

Note: The training demonstration used nominal code 0.0.60.1 for the Sales Ledger control account. Confirm the relevant code for your company before running the report.

3. How to Break Down a Balance by Vehicle Stock Number

The Schedule Nominal Report can also help you investigate vehicle-related nominal balances, such as Sales Suspense.

This is useful when checking whether vehicle deals have been correctly closed and accounted for.

To do this:

1. Open Nominal Ledger > Reports > Schedule Nominal.

2. Enter the relevant vehicle nominal code, such as your Sales Suspense account.

3. Under Schedule By, select Stock Number.

4. Choose your reporting date.

5. Click Report.

Navigator will break down the balance by vehicle stock number.

This makes it easier to identify which vehicles are contributing to the total shown on your Trial Balance.

Example – Investigating Sales Suspense

At month end, your Trial Balance shows an outstanding balance in Sales Suspense.

By scheduling this nominal account by Stock Number, you can identify the individual vehicles responsible for that balance.

An open vehicle deal may legitimately have a Sales Suspense balance.

However, a closed vehicle deal should not normally retain a balance in Sales Suspense.

If a closed deal still has a balance, further investigation may be required.

4. Using Wildcards Across Branches

For supported nominal reports, Navigator allows you to use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard.

For example, the training demonstrated the nominal pattern:

*.*.70.97

The asterisks allow the report to include multiple branches and departments within the relevant company.

This can be useful when you want to review a nominal balance across several branches rather than restricting the results to one.

Important: Wildcards do not combine financial data from separate companies. You must also ensure the nominal code is appropriate for your company's configuration.

5. What If the Report Takes a Long Time?

Some Schedule Nominal reports may take longer to generate than others.

This is because Navigator may need to analyse a substantial history of ledger transactions to calculate the balance for the selected date.

Reports covering large volumes of historical transactions may therefore take additional time to complete.

6. What Should I Do If I Find an Unexpected Balance?

If the report identifies a balance that you cannot explain:

1. Make a note of the nominal code.

2. Identify the relevant Sales Ledger account or vehicle stock number.

3. Check that your reporting date matches the Trial Balance period.

4. Review the transactions associated with the account or vehicle.

5. If you cannot identify the cause, contact the Navigator Helpdesk.

For vehicle-related differences, you can also use the Nominal Transaction Report to review the individual accounting entries against a Stock Number.

Do not post journals simply to clear an unexpected balance without first identifying the cause.

Summary

The Schedule Nominal Report allows you to investigate the figures shown on your Trial Balance by breaking them down into more detailed account information.

Use Nominal Ledger > Reports > Schedule Nominal, enter the relevant nominal code, choose your Schedule By option and select the required date.

For example:

• Sales Ledger Account Number helps identify which customer accounts make up a Sales Ledger balance.

• Stock Number helps identify which vehicles contribute to a vehicle-related nominal balance.

This is particularly useful for account reconciliation, month-end reporting and investigating unexpected differences.