My Profit and Loss report correctly shows a net loss. But my Trial Balance report shows a net profit of the same amount (ie Trial Balance shows the loss without brackets in the credit column). Is this normal?
This is just standard accounting practice, left over from—literally—500 years ago. Credits are the opposite of debits, so a net profit that shows in the Credits column on the trial balance is a loss. If you had a profit, your debits column would total more, and the net profit would be in the Debits column.
The profit and loss statement assumes that the reader realizes income balances and expense balances are of opposite sign, also. Therefore, it omits plus and minus signs to reduce clutter.
Behind the scenes, every computer-based accounting program must make a choice at the outset of design as to whether debits or credits will be positive. Programs are designed both ways. Manager uses negative numbers for credits. But in most cases, we don’t see that. Signs are reversed, where necessary, to conform to historical practices.
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Thank you very much for taking time to enlighten me. We live and learn.