What are these views?
The Trust Report tab shows the plan's whole year in one statement. It starts with what came into the plan, subtracts what went out, and ends with the plan's net assets at the start and end of the year. It's the same order a Schedule H or Schedule I income statement uses, so you can read it the way you read a 5500.
There is no separate Balance Sheet tab. The balance figures (net assets at the beginning and end of the year, and the participant loan balances) sit at the bottom of the Trust Report. The exported workbook gives them a sheet of their own, called Balance Sheet.
When you're ready to share or file your work, Export builds one Excel workbook with the reconciliation, the Trust Report, the Balance Sheet, every participant's figures, and every override with its reason.
[Image to add] đŹ GIF: On the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan reconciliation, click the Trust Report tab, scroll from Additions down to Net assets, then click Export and show the "Workbook ready" message. About 10 seconds.
Open the Trust Report
Go to Retirement > Reconciliation and open the plan.
Click the Trust Report tab. The statement for the plan year opens.
Under the title, CX describes what you're looking at: "Changes in net assets available for benefits for 2025, between the opening and closing positions."
[Image to add] đ¸ SCREENSHOT: The Trust Report tab for the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan, PY 2025, showing the Additions, Deductions, and Net assets groups and the Export button at the top right.
If no files have been read yet, you'll see "No parsed activity yet. Statement figures appear once the uploads are parsed." Click Go to Schedules to add or check your files.
What the Trust Report shows
The statement has two columns: Description and the plan year (for example, PY 2025). The rows come in three groups.
Additions
Investment income
Net appreciation (depreciation) in fair value of investments: the change in value the record keeper reports.
Interest and dividend income: credited interest and dividends, added together.
Total investment income
Interest income from participant loans
Contributions
Employer contributions: match, safe harbor, profit sharing, and other employer money, added together.
Participant contributions: pre-tax and Roth deferrals, added together.
Rollovers
Total contributions
Transfers in and Other additions (these lines only appear when they have money)
Total additions
Deductions
Benefit payments to participants
Administrative expenses: fees the record keeper charged to accounts.
Forfeitures, Loan interest offset, Transfers out, and Other deductions (these lines only appear when they have money)
Total deductions
Net increase (decrease) is total additions plus total deductions.
Net assets
Net assets available for benefits, beginning of year, with of which participant loans below it when the record keeper reports a loan balance.
Net assets available for benefits, end of year, with of which participant loans below it.
The net assets lines show the participant account balances the record keeper reports. The of which participant loans lines show the loan balance next to them.
Tip: Click a group name to collapse it. The group's total shows next to the name, so you can scan the statement quickly.
Cash or Accrual
The Trust Report follows the accounting method you chose for the reconciliation. On Accrual, deposits include the prior year and current year accruals. On Cash, deposits are the record keeper's statement amounts only. Balances don't change with the method. To learn more, see Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules.
How participant loans are treated
Loans are handled differently from other money, and it's worth knowing why.
New loans and loan repayments are not activity. When a participant takes a loan, money moves from their account to their loan. It never leaves the plan. So new loans and principal repayments don't appear as additions or deductions.
Loan interest is activity. Interest a participant pays on a loan is income to the plan. It shows on its own line, Interest income from participant loans.
The loan balance is held outside the account balance. When a participant takes a loan, the record keeper moves that money out of the account and into the loan. So the account balance doesn't include the loan. In the exported workbook and on the Form 5500, total assets are the account balances plus the participant loans.
Today only Empower files report a loan balance. If the record keeper's file doesn't report one, the of which participant loans lines don't appear, and any loans that record keeper holds aren't included in total net assets.
When the statement doesn't balance
A Trust Report proves itself: the beginning balance plus the year's activity should equal the ending balance. When it doesn't, a yellow banner appears above the statement:
"Statement difference: $1,250.00."
The amount is how far apart the two sides are. This doesn't stop you from locking the reconciliation. It's a signal to look closer before you file.
Here are the most common causes, in the order we suggest you check them:
Plan-level accounts. Reconciliation brings in participant accounts only. The plan's own forfeiture, expense, and unclaimed-property accounts are left out. If the plan holds money there, the ending balance and the activity won't line up. Compare against the record keeper's plan-level statement.
A partial file. If the record keeper's file covers only part of the year, or was cut off when it was saved, some activity is missing. On the Schedules tab, check the schedule's start and end dates, and compare the file's row count with the record keeper's report.
Earnings. Make sure the change in value and interest look right for the year. A large missing earnings figure usually means the file left out a column or a fund.
Accruals. On Accrual, deposits move by the accrual amounts but balances don't. The difference can equal the net of your prior year and current year accruals. Switch to Cash to see whether the statement ties without them.
Overrides. An override changes a figure in the activity but not the balances. Hover over the yellow dot on the Plan or Accounts tab to see what was changed and why.
A record keeper discrepancy. If the record keeper's own file doesn't tie, the difference will show here too. Ask the record keeper for a corrected report.
Tip: The exported Trust Report sheet ends with a check row that shows the same difference. It's handy to share with the record keeper.
Export a reconciliation
You can export at any time once every schedule's participant matches are confirmed. Locking isn't required.
Open the plan's reconciliation.
Click Export. You'll find it at the top right of the Plan, Accounts, and Trust Report tabs.
âYou can also open the menu on any row of the Schedules tab and click Download Schedule. It downloads the same workbook.
The workbook opens in a new browser tab and downloads. A "Workbook ready" message appears.
The file is named after the plan, for example "Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan Reconciliation.xlsx".
[Image to add] đ¸ SCREENSHOT: The Plan tab for the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan with the Export button highlighted at the top right of the table.
If Export is grayed out, hover over it. You'll see "Confirm each schedule's participant matches first." Open the schedule that still needs review, confirm its matches, and try again.
The workbook includes participant names and the last four digits of each SSN. So you can only export a reconciliation for a client you have access to in CX. If you don't, you'll see "You don't have permission to export this reconciliation." If file storage is briefly down, you'll see "The export could not be produced because file storage is unavailable." Wait a minute and try again.
Note: If your browser blocks pop-ups for CX, the download may not start. Allow pop-ups for CX and click Export again.
What's in the workbook
The workbook has five sheets, in the order you'd review them.
Sheet | What it answers | What's on it |
Reconciliation | Do the record keeper and the census agree? | Contributions only, by money type, split into Employee Contributions and Employer Contributions. Each row shows the record keeper amount, the census amount, the difference, and whether an override or census change was made. A Summary at the bottom totals employee, employer, and all contributions. |
Trust Report | What moved during the year? | Every deposit and every withdrawal by money type, with totals. A Summary shows the beginning balance, total deposits, total withdrawals, net activity, the ending balance, and a check row. A check of zero means the statement balances. |
Balance Sheet | Where did the plan end up? | Participant account balances, then Participant loans, then Total net assets, at the beginning and end of the year, with the change. Total net assets is the account balances plus the loans. The loan row has a note: "Held outside the account balances above, so it is added to total net assets. Total assets on the Form 5500 include it." When no loan balance was reported, the note says so instead. Plan-level accounts is listed as not included. |
Participants | What's behind the totals? | Every figure for every person, one row each, with the match status, money type, record keeper amount, census amount, difference, and the reason for any participant-level override. The census comparable column says "yes" for figures that are compared with the census. This sheet has filters, so you can narrow it to one person or one money type. |
Overrides | What was changed by hand, and why? | Every override that's in effect, plus every accrual amount typed in by hand on the Plan tab. Each row shows the level (Source, Participant, or Plan Accrual), the person, who set it (set by), when (set on, date and time in UTC), the original amount, the new amount, the change, and the reason. Plan accruals have no reason, because CX doesn't ask for one. |
A few things to keep in mind:
The Reconciliation sheet only lists money types the census tracks. Balances, earnings, fees, distributions, rollovers, transfers, and loans are on the other sheets.
Money types use the same names you see on the Plan tab, such as Pre-Tax Deferrals, Roth 401(k), Match, and Employer Nonelective. A cell in the workbook always matches the row on the screen.
The Trust Report sheet uses the words Deposits and Withdrawals instead of Additions and Deductions. The figures are the same.
The Balance Sheet figures are participant assets only. Because plan-level accounts aren't included, net assets can sit a little below the record keeper's stated plan total.
When loans were reported, Total net assets on the Balance Sheet sheet is higher than the net assets line on the Trust Report tab by the loan balance. That's because the sheet adds the loans in.
Census figures changed in the census editor are marked "census overridden" on the Reconciliation and Participants sheets. They aren't listed on the Overrides sheet.
Blank cells and $0.00 mean different things. A blank cell means nothing was reported. $0.00 means zero was reported.
Tips
Export after you lock to keep a record of exactly what you signed off on. The figures in the workbook match the screen.
Add a reason to every override before you export. Reasons travel with the workbook, so a reviewer or auditor can see why a number changed.
Use the Participants sheet when a client asks about one person. Filter to their name to see every figure behind their balance.
Related articles
Reading the Plan and Accounts Tabs
Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules
Overrides and Census Corrections
Confirming and Locking a Reconciliation
Filling the Form 5500 from a Reconciliation
Asset Reconciliation Troubleshooting and FAQ