General ledger - Wikipedia

In bookkeeping, a general ledger, also known as a nominal ledger, is a bookkeeping ledger in which accounting data is posted from journals and from ... Generalledger FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia Jumptonavigation Jumptosearch Bookkeeping Keyconcepts Daybooks Double-entry Generalledger TAccounts Trialbalance Journal Debitsandcredits Chartofaccounts Pettycash Imprestsystem Bankreconciliation Ledger Single-entry Bookkeeper Assets Liabilities Equity Income Expenses Depreciation Accruals Prepayments VAT/GST Financialstatements Balancesheet Incomestatement Relatedprofessions Accountant Accountingtechnician Accountsclerk vte PartofaseriesonAccounting Historicalcost Constantpurchasingpower Management Tax Majortypes Audit Budget Cost Forensic Financial Fund Governmental Management Social Tax Keyconcepts Accountingperiod Accrual Constantpurchasingpower Economicentity Fairvalue Goingconcern Historicalcost Matchingprinciple Materiality Revenuerecognition Unitofaccount Selectedaccounts Assets Cash Costofgoodssold Depreciation /Amortization Equity Expenses Goodwill Liabilities Profit Revenue Accountingstandards Generally-acceptedprinciples Generally-acceptedauditingstandards Convergence InternationalFinancialReportingStandards InternationalStandardsonAuditing ManagementAccountingPrinciples Financialstatements Annualreport Balancesheet Cash-flow Equity Income Managementdiscussion Notestothefinancialstatements Bookkeeping Bankreconciliation Debitsandcredits Double-entrysystem FIFOandLIFO Journal Ledger /Generalledger Taccounts Trialbalance Auditing Financial Internal Firms Report Peopleandorganizations Accountants Accountingorganizations LucaPacioli Development History Research Positiveaccounting Sarbanes–OxleyAct Misconduct Creative Earningsmanagement Erroraccount Hollywood Off-balance-sheet Twosetsofbooks vte Inbookkeeping,ageneralledger,alsoknownasanominalledger,isabookkeepingledgerinwhichaccountingdataispostedfromjournalsandfromsubledgers,suchasaccountspayable,accountsreceivable,cashmanagement,fixedassets,purchasingandprojects.Aledgeraccountiscreatedforeachaccountinthechartofaccountsforanorganization,areclassifiedintoaccountcategories,suchasincome,expense,assets,liabilitiesandequity,andthecollectionofalltheseaccountsisknownasthegeneralledger.Thegeneralledgerholdsfinancialandnon-financialdataforanorganization.[1]Eachaccountinthegeneralledgerconsistsofoneormorepages.Anorganization'sstatementoffinancialpositionandtheincomestatementarebothderivedfromincomeandexpenseaccountcategoriesinthegeneralledger.[2] Terminology[edit] Thegeneralledgercontainsapageforallaccountsinthechartofaccounts[3]arrangedbyaccountcategories.Thegeneralledgerisusuallydividedintoatleastsevenmaincategories:assets,liabilities,owner'sequity,revenue,expenses,gainsandlosses.[4]Themaincategoriesofthegeneralledgermaybefurthersubdividedintosubledgerstoincludeadditionaldetailsofsuchaccountsascash,accountsreceivable,accountspayable,etc. Theextractionofaccountbalancesiscalledatrialbalance.Thepurposeofthetrialbalanceis,atapreliminarystageofthefinancialstatementpreparationprocess,toensuretheequalityofthetotaldebitsandcredits.[5] Process[edit] Postingistheprocessofrecordingamountsascredits(rightside),andamountsasdebits(leftside),inthepagesofthegeneralledger.Additionalcolumnstotherightholdarunningactivitytotal(similartoachequebook).[6] Thegeneralledgershouldincludethedate,descriptionandbalanceortotalamountforeachaccount. Becauseeachbookkeepingentrydebitsoneaccountandcreditsanotheraccountinanequalamount,thedouble-entrybookkeepingsystemhelpsensurethatthegeneralledgerisalwaysinbalance,thusmaintainingtheaccountingequation: Assets = Liabilities + (Shareholders'orOwners'equity) {\displaystyle{\mbox{Assets}}={\mbox{Liabilities}}+{\mbox{(Shareholders'orOwners'equity)}}} .[7][3] Theaccountingequationisthemathematicalstructureofthebalancesheet.Althoughageneralledgerappearstobefairlysimple,inlargeorcomplexorganizationsororganizationswithvarioussubsidiaries,thegeneralledgercangrowtobequitelargeandtakeseveralhoursordaystoauditorbalance.[8][citationneeded] Inamanualornon-computerizedsystem,thegeneralledgermaybealargebook.Organizationsmayinsteademployoneormorespreadsheetsfortheirledgers,includingthegeneralledger,ormayutilizespecializedsoftwaretoautomateledgerentryandhandling.Whenabusinessusesenterpriseresourceplanning(ERP)software,afinancial-featuresmoduleproducessubledgersandthegeneralledger,withentriesdrawnfromadatabasethatissharedwithotherprocessesmanagedthroughtheERP. References[edit] ^"AccountingTermConcepts"(PDF).Retrieved12February2017.[deadlink] ^"NationalCurriculumStatementAccountingGuideGrade10"(PDF).Retrieved26February2017.[deadlink] ^ab"Chapter9.3-GeneralLedgerandChartsofAccounts".AccountingScholar.Retrieved28February2017. ^"InputstoAccounting". ^"WhatisaTrialBalance?".Retrieved5March2017. ^"Postingtogeneralledgeraccounts"(PDF).Retrieved26February2017. ^MeigsandMeigs.FinancialAccounting,FourthEdition.McGraw-Hill,1983.pp.19-20. ^Whiteley,John."Mr".MonctonAccountantJohnWhiteleyCPA.MonctonAccountantJohnWhiteleyCPA.Retrieved3July2017.[permanentdeadlink] Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=General_ledger&oldid=1062077106" Categories:AccountingjournalsandledgersAccountingterminologyHiddencategories:AllarticleswithdeadexternallinksArticleswithdeadexternallinksfromOctober2020ArticleswithdeadexternallinksfromDecember2019ArticleswithpermanentlydeadexternallinksAllarticleswithunsourcedstatementsArticleswithunsourcedstatementsfromFebruary2011 Navigationmenu Personaltools NotloggedinTalkContributionsCreateaccountLogin Namespaces ArticleTalk Variants expanded collapsed Views ReadEditViewhistory More expanded collapsed Search Navigation MainpageContentsCurrenteventsRandomarticleAboutWikipediaContactusDonate Contribute HelpLearntoeditCommunityportalRecentchangesUploadfile Tools WhatlinkshereRelatedchangesUploadfileSpecialpagesPermanentlinkPageinformationCitethispageWikidataitem Print/export DownloadasPDFPrintableversion Inotherprojects WikimediaCommons Languages AfrikaansالعربيةCatalàČeštinaEestiEspañolفارسیFrançais한국어ÍslenskaעבריתҚазақшаLietuviųNederlands日本語PortuguêsRomânăРусскийSvenskaதமிழ் Editlinks