The general ledger
Every movement of one account with its running balance: how to investigate a figure that surprises you and find the exact day an account tipped.
The general ledger unrolls every movement of one account, in time order, with the balance after each of them. It is the investigative tool of accounting.
The trial balance tells you the "Maintenance" account weighs 4,200. The general ledger tells you what those 4,200 are made of, and at exactly what moment they piled up.
Open it
- Open Finance, then Reports, Accounting section, General ledger tab.
- Choose the period at the top of the page.
- Select the account to consult in the list.
One account at a time, deliberately. A ledger showing every account at once would only be a journal sorted differently, and you would lose exactly what makes it valuable: the continuity of a single balance.
The running balance, and why it changes everything
Each line carries the account balance after that movement. It is the most useful column on the screen, and the one a spreadsheet never provides.
| Date | Label | Debit | Credit | Running balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/03 | Brought forward | 1,240.00 | ||
| 07/03 | Electricity invoice | 310.00 | 1,550.00 | |
| 12/03 | Roof repair | 2,400.00 | 3,950.00 | |
| 28/03 | Supplier credit note | 250.00 | 3,700.00 |
A plain list would have shown the same four lines. The running balance shows you 12 March as well: the day this account tipped, and therefore the line to ask about.
Tip: when an account surprises you, do not read the amounts one by one. Scan the running-balance column alone until you see the step. It points at the line to examine in one second.
Investigating a figure, step by step
This is what your accountant will do, and what you can do before them.
- The trial balance spots. A balance looks too high, or falls on the wrong side.
- The general ledger explains. Open that account over the period, and look for the step.
- The line leads back to the transaction. The label and the date take you back to the original record in Finance.
- You decide. If the transaction is right but wrongly filed, reclassify it: the entry follows on its own. If it should not exist, cancel it: a reversal will be created.
Note: reclassifying a transaction moves the income or expense line of its entry, and only that one. The cash line does not move, because it was right: the money did come into the bank, it was simply filed under the wrong income.
The three accounts to open before a members' meeting
If you only consult three before presenting figures, take these.
The bank account. Its closing balance must match your statement. If it differs, the bank reconciliation will tell you why.
The cash account. Cash can never be negative: nobody takes out of a drawer money that is not in it. A credit balance signals an expense recorded before its income, or a receipt forgotten.
The "Other income" account. It is the catch-all. If it grows, it is not that there is a lot of other income: it is that categories have no account, and their income pours in there. Open the Chart of accounts tab then.
Common mistakes
- Consulting an account over too short a period. The ledger starts from the opening balance of the period. If you are looking for where an old balance comes from, widen the period, otherwise the opening figure absorbs exactly what you are after.
- Confusing the entry label with the transaction label. The entry label comes from the account; it is normal for it to be generic. The description you typed is on the transaction, in Finance.
- Looking for a member in the general ledger. They are not there, and that is intended: accounting works on accounts, not on people. To find who gave, use the tithes or gifts tracking.
Printing it
The Print button produces the ledger for the account shown, on your church letterhead, with the account name, the period, the issue date and the author on every page.
This is the piece an accountant annotates. Print the accounts they ask for rather than the whole journal: they will search less, and bill you less.