A general ledger is a collection of the accounts of a business that are organized to form a chronological transaction record. Usually, a general ledger consists of T-accounts (account names and account numbers) arranged in two columns. More formal records can comprise three or four columns to display account balances after each journal entry. Typically, business bookkeeping transactions are
. posted in journals. Entries from the journals are pulled from the various journals and made in the general ledger. For example, departments for cash receipts are listed in a journal for cash receipts. Accounts payable or cash payouts are entered in a journal for cash disbursements. Similarly, all sales are found in a sales journal. At the end of a month, adding up the columns summarizes the activity for each journal. The summaries serve as entries for the general ledger. The general ledger has an important purpose even though it can seem repetitive since entries for all accounts are already posted in separate journals. The general ledger makes it possible for business owners and accountants to view the activities and balances of all accounts at a glance. Running account balances can show net credits and debits. Because general ledger postings are simply rearrangements of financial information, requiring no additional decisions, accounting software can perform the tasks for batch processing on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Accounting software permits the assignment of reference numbers for each posting to easily trace them back to original journal entries. Numerous websites feature samples and templates for general ledgers. General ledger software includes central financial databases. Generally, each database has built-in accounting, financial analysis, budgeting and reporting / printing features. There are a variety of financial systems within the site databases. Visitors can enter and coordinate all transactions in one system to maintain data integrity while keeping viable records and avoiding unnecessary redundancy. Individuals using online journal entry software can use the journals to update a general ledger for several kinds of transactions, such as expenses, budget changes, accounts payable and cash receipts. Often, a Microsoft Excel interface is provided with a menu and instructions for posting data with specific defaults. http://www.bookkeeping-financial-accounting-resources.com/sample-general-ledger-journal-entry.html or http://www.netmba.com/accounting/fin/process/ledger/
