Bookkeeping Services – ‘General Ledger’
This page includes information about bookkeeping services related to ‘General Ledger’. General Ledger is the main book (collection of entries) where are stored all data about business transactions. It is summary of accounts (such as cash, sales, purchases).
In manual bookkeeping ‘General Ledger’ is so called ‘T account’. Debit column on the left and credit column on the right. In such form all accounts are collected. Usually ‘General Ledger’ includes beginning and ending balance, then for each transaction: date, amount, debit and credit account, description, reference to source document and other necessary data.
The purposes of a ‘General Ledger’
A ‘General Ledger’ is an account or record used to sort and store balance sheet and income statement transactions. Examples of ‘General Ledger’ accounts include the asset accounts such as Cash, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Investments, Land, and Equipment. Examples of the ‘General Ledger’ liability accounts include Notes Payable, Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses Payable, and Customer Deposits. Examples of income statement accounts found in the ‘General Ledger’ include Sales Service Fee Revenues, Salaries Expense, Rent Expense, Advertising Expense, Interest Expense, and Loss on Disposal of Assets.
Some ‘General Ledger’ accounts are summary records which are referred to as control accounts. The detail that supports each of the control accounts will be found outside of the ‘General Ledger’ in what is known as a ‘Subsidiary Ledger’. For example, Accounts Receivable could be a control account in the ‘General Ledger’, and there will be a subsidiary ledger which contains each customer’s credit activity. The ‘General Ledger’ accounts Inventory, Equipment, and Accounts Payable could also be control accounts and for each there will be a ‘Subsidiary Ledger’ containing the supporting detail.
A listing of a company’s ‘General Ledger’ accounts is found in its Chart of Accounts.
‘General Ledger’ maintenance services include:
- Recording of business transactions, classifying the transactions according to legislation, accounting standards and business needs;
- Maintenance of prepayments and accruals;
- Entering purchase, depreciation and disposal of fixed assets;
- Recording of payroll related transactions (including calculated and paid payroll, calculated and paid taxes);
- Ensuring correct accurate and completed entries (reviewing accounts of general ledger with aim to find and correct possible errors);
- Preparation of information necessary for business management;
- Preparation of financial reports, and analysis of recorded data;
- Reviewing and reporting of monthly income and expenses;
- Reconciliation of accounts;
- Closing of accounts and preparation of trial balance;
- In case of necessity explanation of positions of accounts;
- Ensuring keeping of all data and providing of copies in case of necessity.
