General Ledger Definition, Importance, Account Types

When a company receives payment from a client for the sale of a product, the cash received is tabulated in net sales along with the receipts from other sales and returns. The cost of sales is subtracted from that sum to yield the gross profit for that reporting period. Furthermore, the General Ledger provides a clear audit trail, allowing businesses to trace the origin of each transaction. This attribute is particularly important for compliance and regulatory purposes, as it ensures transparency and accountability in financial reporting.

• At the end of an accounting period, the accounts of asset, expense, or loss should each have a debit balance, and the accounts of liability, equity, revenue, or gain should each have a credit balance.
• With NetSuite, you go live in a predictable timeframe — smart, stepped implementations begin with sales and span the entire customer lifecycle, so there’s continuity from sales to services to support.
• It aids in determining the mathematical correctness of financial transactions recorded in a company’s ledger records.
• A general ledger is a general accounting document in which all the transactions of a company are compiled and stored.
• Instead, financially-minded individuals — and businesses — use ledgers to fastidiously document money that’s they’re paying out, or being paid.

Or that an incorrect debit entry was accompanied with an incorrect credit entry as well. A trial balance is a bookkeeping document in which the account development, fundraising, and marketing balance of all sub-ledgers is recorded. Only the balance of sub-ledgers is compiled and updated using the double-entry accounting method.

A Balance Sheet Transaction Example

Your general ledger’s key accounts are Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, and Expenses. We can receive complete information about any single account using a ledger since all linked journal entries are printed on continuous pages of this book. In older times, the ledger was prepared physically and was done manually for each account, but with time it has evolved in electronic form, and now all data is stored in ERP portals. Both are an integral part of accounting thought and serves as a lifeline of every accountant. Consider the following example where a company receives a $1,000 payment from a client for its services.

• The accountant would then increase the asset column by $1,000 and subtract $1,000 from accounts receivable.
• This attribute allows businesses to assess their financial health and make informed decisions based on the current state of their finances.
• The General Ledger serves as a valuable resource for auditors, providing a detailed record of transactions for further analysis and verification.
• She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities.

In a double-entry accounting system, every Debit is always matched by the same amount of Credit. The trial balance is a report that lists the closing balances in each general ledger account at the end of an accounting period. It is written in a columnar manner, with columns on the left showing debit balances and columns on the right reflecting credit balances. The trial balance lists all actual, personal, and nominal account balances produced from the ledger accounts.

Steps in the General Ledger Reconciliation Process

You can select all segments for the selected ledger, and
define conditions including account value ranges. The Trial balance is also considered a vital ingredient to keep the business afloat, economically and financially. If the grand total in the Trial Balance is not equal for both the Debits and the Credits, something is missing or not entered correctly in the General Ledger. There are several reasons why a general ledger should be part of your accounting framework. It also represents the value of an owner’s or shareholders’ stake in a company, excluding liabilities.

Everything to Run Your Business

The trial balance is a summary of all account balances after all business transactions for a certain accounting period have been recorded. In this method, the total value at the end of the debit and credit columns of a company’s ledger is recorded in the trial balance sheet. This method consumes less time, but is not useful in the preparation of the final accounts; therefore, it is not generally used.

Why is it called a trial balance?

An example of a ledger is a company’s general ledger, which contains all of its asset, liability, owner equity, revenue, expense, gain, and loss accounts. Each account contains the transaction amounts that pertain to the account title. The General Ledger serves as a valuable resource for auditors, providing a detailed record of transactions for further analysis and verification. However, it does not explicitly verify the accuracy of the recorded transactions.

However, there still could be mistakes or errors in the accounting systems. A trial balance can be used to assess the financial position of a company between full annual audits. The income statement will also account for other expenses, such as selling, general and administrative expenses, depreciation, interest, and income taxes. The difference between these inflows and outflows is the company’s net income for the reporting period.

When looking at the trial balance meaning, it’s helpful to define what would go into each side of the equation. Tara Kimball is a former accounting professional with more than 10 years of experience in corporate finance and small business accounting. Your general ledger tells the bank the financial information they need to move forward with a loan application. The trial balance accounts are listed in a specific order to help in the preparation of financial statements. The total of the debit side is placed in the debit column and the total of the credit side in the credit column of the trial balance.