Schedule A vs Schedule H: Getting Opening and Closing Values Right

Of all the ways a California §1061 accounting can fail to balance, a mismatched Schedule A and Schedule H is the most common, and the most consequential. This is a practitioner's walkthrough of the asymmetric roles of A and H, the carry-forward principle, and the single mistake that causes most imbalances.

Written by Marc Joyce, California trusts and estates attorney
Last reviewed October 9, 2026

The two schedules at a glance

Schedule A and Schedule H bookend every fiduciary accounting:

• Schedule A: Assets on Hand at the beginning of the accounting period. The inventory of everything the fiduciary holds on day one.
• Schedule H: Assets on Hand at the end of the accounting period. The inventory of everything the fiduciary holds on the final day.

Both schedules are property inventories valued at carry value. They look structurally similar: a list of assets with quantities and dollar amounts. But their roles in the accounting equation are very different, and that difference is where most errors happen.

A goes on charges. H goes on credits.

A §1061 accounting's structural integrity depends on this pairing:

Schedule A is a charge against the fiduciary because it represents property the fiduciary took into custody at the start of the period. Schedule H is a credit because it represents property the fiduciary is discharging back out: to the next accounting period, or to beneficiaries when the fiduciary's duty ends.

The equation works because every activity during the period is accounted for in one of the middle schedules:

• B adds principal receipts to the charge side.
• C adds realized gains on sale to the charge side.
• E adds income received to the charge side.
• D subtracts realized losses on sale on the credit side.
• F subtracts disbursements of principal.
• G subtracts disbursements of income.
• I subtracts distributions to beneficiaries.

H is whatever remains after all of that. It is not an independent measurement; it is A plus the activity of the period, evaluated at carry values.

Carry value: what "beginning" and "ending" mean

"Carry value" is not market value. A carry value is the value at which an asset is carried on the accounting throughout its tenure:

• For cash: the dollar balance on the relevant date.
• For securities: the value the fiduciary was charged with: the inventory value (such as the date-of-death or appointment value), or the carry value at the close of the prior account (§1061(a)(1), (a)(10)), adjusted only for subsequent accounting events (sales, reinvestments, purchases).
• For real property: the inventory value or date-of-death value, adjusted only for a capital improvement.

A stock held on January 1 at a $80,000 carry value, through a year where the market price fluctuates between $70,000 and $90,000, still sits on Schedule H at $80,000 if it hasn't been sold. The unrealized market movement is informational only. The carry value doesn't change.

The carry-forward principle

Here is the rule that catches most imbalance problems:

Schedule H is derived from Schedule A by carry-forward, not anchored to an independent ending measurement.

Stated as a formula:

Assets appearing on Schedule A that were not sold during the period appear on Schedule H at the same carry value. Assets purchased during the period appear on Schedule H at their acquisition cost. Assets sold during the period do not appear on H at all: they've left the estate, and the difference between their carry value and their sale proceeds flows to Schedule C (gain) or Schedule D (loss).

When you derive H from A this way, the accounting will balance, because every charge-side and credit-side entry is mathematically linked to the carry-forward chain. Any imbalance that remains is evidence of a missing or misclassified transaction, which you can investigate.

The most common mistake

Here is the single error that produces the most §1061 imbalances:

It's a natural mistake. A year-end brokerage statement lists every position with its market value as of the statement date. Entering those market values directly into Schedule H feels like "the right data from the statement." But it silently introduces unrealized market appreciation or depreciation into the credit side of the accounting equation: appreciation that has no corresponding entry on the charge side.

Result: the accounting doesn't balance. The difference will equal the aggregate unrealized gain or loss on the ending holdings. The fiduciary looks for a misclassified transaction to reconcile, when in fact the problem is on H itself.

How to tell you've made this mistake

If your accounting is off by a number that looks like it could be the cumulative market change on your holdings, look at Schedule H first. Compare each H entry's value to its corresponding A entry's value. If an asset hasn't been sold during the period and its H value differs from its A value, you're anchoring to market, not carrying forward. The fix is to change the H value back to the A value (for unsold holdings), or to the reconstructed carry basis (for positions that had partial sales).

Intra-period activity: the tricky middle

Things get slightly harder when a position has activity during the period:

Partial sale of a position on Schedule A

Suppose Schedule A lists 1,000 shares of XYZ at an $80,000 total carry value ($80/share). The fiduciary sells 400 shares during the period for $38,000. The carry value of the sold portion is 400 × $80 = $32,000. Schedule C records a gain of $38,000 − $32,000 = $6,000. Schedule H shows the remaining 600 shares at 600 × $80 = $48,000.

The math: A ($80,000) and C ($6,000) put $86,000 on the charge side from this position. On the credit side, H carries the remaining 600 shares at $48,000. The other $38,000 is the sale proceeds, which are cash: they stay on Schedule H as cash on hand at the end of the period, unless they are paid out, in which case they appear as a disbursement (F or G) or a distribution (I). The proceeds are not a receipt on Schedule B. The sale changed the form of the asset, from shares to cash, and the gain on Schedule C accounts for the difference between the cash and the carry value given up.

Reinvested dividends

A mutual fund that reinvests dividends creates a second carry-value wrinkle: each reinvestment is a new acquisition at its own cost basis. Schedule E records the dividend as income; Schedule H at period-end shows the original shares at their original carry value plus the newly-acquired shares at their reinvestment cost. The accounting balances because the E entry and the new-share acquisition cost each flow to the proper sides of the equation.

When A can't be established from the prior period's H

The simplest Schedule A is one where the fiduciary has a prior accounting's Schedule H to carry forward from. When there isn't one (typically the very first accounting for a matter), Schedule A is established from the inventory (for decedents' estates, conservatorships, and guardianships) or from the value at which the trust took the asset (for trusts).

For trusts where there is no prior accounting and no formal inventory, practitioners commonly use the values reported on the financial statement covering the period just before the accounting begins: for example, a brokerage statement ending the day before the accounting starts, providing beginning-of-period values for Schedule A. This is why practitioners often need the statement covering the month prior to the accounting period, not just the months within it.

The discipline, summed up

1. Schedule A is beginning-of-period carry values, not market values.
2. Schedule H is derived from A by carry-forward, not anchored to end-of-period market values.
3. Unrealized market change lives outside the §1061 equation, on the separate market value schedule (§1063(a)).
4. Every asset appearing on both A and H at the same carry value is evidence that the position wasn't sold during the period; that's a good thing, not a mistake.
5. When the accounting doesn't balance and the difference looks like a market-change figure, suspect Schedule H.

The carry-forward principle is what makes the §1061 format auditable. Reviewers can trace every dollar of H back to either a value on A or a specific acquisition during the period. If they can't, something is missing, misclassified, or anchored to the wrong basis, and the accounting's job is to surface that, not hide it.

This article is a general overview of Schedule A and Schedule H construction for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice, accounting advice, or a substitute for independent professional review. Practitioners should consult California Probate Code §1061 directly and apply their own judgment to the specific facts of each matter. Statutes, rules of court and Judicial Council forms change; confirm the current text before relying on this article. Current as of October 2026.