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Macon-Knoxville, GA Store Ledger, 1825–1831. A ledger [a] is a book or collection of accounts in which accounting transactions are recorded. Each account has: an opening or brought-forward balance; a list of transactions, each recorded as either a debit or credit in separate columns (usually with a counter-entry on another page)
In bookkeeping, a general ledger is a bookkeeping ledger in which accounting data are posted from journals and aggregated from subledgers, such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash management, fixed assets, purchasing and projects. [1] A general ledger may be maintained on paper, on a computer, or in the cloud. [2]
This process of transferring summaries or individual transactions to the ledger is called posting. Once the posting process is complete, accounts kept using the "T" format (debits on the left side of the "T" and credits on the right side) undergo balancing, which is simply a process to arrive at the balance of the account.
The double entry system uses nominal ledger accounts. From these nominal ledger accounts, a trial balance can be created. The trial balance lists all the nominal ledger account balances. The list is split into two columns, with debit balances placed in the left hand column and credit balances placed in the right hand column.
It also covers the steps involved in preparing and reporting the overall accounts which are typically stored in a general or nominal ledger and managed by a controller. The detailed steps involved are: [2] data extraction; data collection; data validation; data transformation (generation of voucher) voucher posting (to general ledger)
The structure and headings of accounts should assist in consistent posting of transactions. Each nominal ledger account is unique, which allows its ledger to be located. The accounts are typically arranged in the order of the customary appearance of accounts in the financial statements: balance sheet accounts followed by profit and loss accounts.
The trial balance is usually prepared by a bookkeeper or accountant who has used daybooks to record financial transactions and then post them to the nominal ledgers and personal ledger accounts. The trial balance is a part of the double-entry bookkeeping system and uses the classic 'T' account format for presenting values.
General ledger – main accounting record of a business which uses double-entry bookkeeping. Journal – where double entry bookkeeping entries are recorded by debiting one or more accounts and crediting another one or more accounts with the same total amount. Special journals – facilitate the process of journalizing and posting transactions.