The general ledger is a collection of the group of accounts that supports the items shown in the major financial statements. It is built up by posting transactions recorded in the general journal. The general ledger can be supported by one or more subsidiary ledgers that provide details for accounts in the general ledger. For instance, an accounts receivable subsidiary ledger would contain a separate account for each credit customer, tracking that customer's balance separately. This subsidiary ledger would then be totaled and compared with its controlling account (in this case, Accounts Receivable) to ensure accuracy as part of the process of preparing a trial balance.
There are seven basic categories in which all accounts are grouped:
The balance sheet and the income statement are both derived from the general ledger. Each account in the general ledger consists of one or more pages. The general ledger is where posting to the accounts occurs. Posting is the process of recording amounts as credits, (right side), and amounts as debits, (left side), in the pages of the general ledger. Additional columns to the right hold a running activity total (similar to a checkbook).
The listing of the account names is called the chart of accounts. The extraction of account balances is called a trial balance. The purpose of the trial balance is, at a preliminary stage of the financial statement preparation process, to ensure the equality of the total debits and credits.
The general ledger should include the date, description and balance or total amount for each account. It is usually divided into at least seven main categories. These categories generally include assets, liabilities, owner's equity, revenue, expenses, gains and losses. The main categories of the general ledger may be further subdivided into subledgers to include additional details of such accounts as cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, etc.
Because each bookkeeping entry debits one account and credits another account in an equal amounts, the double-entry bookkeeping system helps ensure that the general ledger is always in balance, thus maintaining the accounting equation:
The accounting equation is the mathematical structure of the balance sheet.