{"id":"concept:general-ledger","kind":"concept","label":"General Ledger","synonyms":["GL","the ledger"],"definition":"The general ledger is the complete, chronological record of every posted journal entry across every account in a book, and pulling it for one account shows every posting to that account with a running balance.","summary":"Where a report gives you a total, the general ledger gives you the path to it — every posting to one account, in date order, with a running balance after each one. It's the tool for \"wait, why is this number what it is,\" not for a first look at your finances.","explanation":["The general ledger is the complete chronological record of posted entries, account by account, with a running balance. Where other reports state a total, this is the sequence the total came from.","It is the only report that answers why rather than what. Every other figure on every other statement is an aggregate of these lines, so any question of the form why is this number what it is resolves here and nowhere else.","It shows what has posted and nothing else. An uncategorized transaction is not in it, however certain its eventual destination — which means a ledger and a bank balance can legitimately disagree, and the gap is the uncategorized remainder rather than an error.","In older bookkeeping the general ledger was the book itself and everything else was derived from it. That remains the right way to think about it: the reports are views, this is the record."],"commonMistakes":["Confusing the general ledger (every posting, one account) with a trial balance (every account, one balance each) — they answer different questions.","Passing a bank account id where a ledger account id is expected — the general ledger reads the chart-of-accounts account, not the bank connection behind it.","Expecting unposted transactions to show up here — only what has actually posted to the account appears."],"category":"fundamentals","questions":[{"question":"How is the general ledger different from a trial balance?","answer":"A trial balance lists every account's current balance, once each. The general ledger shows every individual posting to one specific account, in order, with a running balance — the detail behind that one line on the trial balance."},{"question":"Does the general ledger include uncategorized transactions?","answer":"No — only what has actually posted to the account. A transaction still sitting unposted in the inbox is invisible here until it's categorized."}],"url":"/glossary/general-ledger","relatedTo":[{"id":"concept:journal-entry","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Ajournal-entry"},{"id":"concept:chart-of-accounts","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Achart-of-accounts"},{"id":"concept:trial-balance","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Atrial-balance"},{"id":"concept:account","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Aaccount"},{"id":"concept:posting","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Aposting"},{"id":"concept:audit-trail","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Aaudit-trail"},{"id":"tool:general_ledger","relationship":"references","weight":0.7,"api":"/api/knowledge/tool%3Ageneral_ledger"},{"id":"guide:trial-balance-vs-balance-sheet","relationship":"references","weight":0.7,"api":"/api/knowledge/guide%3Atrial-balance-vs-balance-sheet"}],"referencedBy":[{"id":"concept:double-entry-bookkeeping","label":"Double-Entry Bookkeeping","url":"/glossary/double-entry-bookkeeping"},{"id":"concept:journal-entry","label":"Journal Entry","url":"/glossary/journal-entry"},{"id":"concept:trial-balance","label":"Trial Balance","url":"/glossary/trial-balance"},{"id":"concept:audit-log","label":"Audit Log","url":"/glossary/audit-log"},{"id":"tool:general_ledger","label":"Trace exactly how one account got to its current number","url":"/tools/general_ledger"}],"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"BalanceMCP — https://balancemcp.com"}