General ledger explained
If the chart of accounts is the list of buckets, the general ledger is what is in each one. For every account it lists each transaction that touched it, with the date, a description, the debit or credit, and the running balance after it.
Every financial report is a summary of the ledger. The balance sheet takes each asset, liability and equity account’s balance on one date; the income statement totals each income and expense account over a period; the trial balance lists every account’s balance side by side. When a number on a report looks wrong, the ledger is where you find out why.
Some accounts have their own detailed ledger underneath, called a sub-ledger, such as one per customer within accounts receivable. Their totals roll up into the general ledger.
Example: one month of the checking account’s ledger
Business checking, March:
| Date | Description | Debit | Credit | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1 | Opening balance | $5,000.00 | ||
| Mar 4 | Payment from Rivera & Co., invoice 1031 | $1,200.00 | $6,200.00 | |
| Mar 5 | March rent | $800.00 | $5,400.00 | |
| Mar 18 | Office supplies | $150.00 | $5,250.00 |
Each line here has a matching line in another account’s ledger: the $1,200 payment also reduces Accounts receivable, and the rent also increases Rent expense.
Where you’ll see it in fiscal50
The General Ledger report in fiscal50 shows every transaction in your books by account, with debits, credits and running balances. Clicking an account name in the Balance Sheet, Income Statement or Trial Balance opens its ledger for the report’s dates, where you can open and correct a transaction.
The ledger exports to Excel, and its Location and Special Category filters narrow it down when you track those.