Posting to a General Ledger Chapter 5 Posting to a General Ledger

Arranging Accounts In A General Ledger A group of accounts is called a ledger. A ledger that contains all accounts needed to prepare financial statements is called a general ledger. The name given to an account is known as an account title. The number assigned to an account is called an account number.

Numbering General Ledger Accounts The first digit in each account number shows the general ledger division in which the account is located. The second two digits indicate the location of each account within a general ledger division. Account numbers are assigned by 10s. Leaving nine numbers unused between account numbers. 1 3 0 General ledger division Location within general ledger division

Opening General Ledger Accounts Two steps for opening an account: 1. Write the account title in the heading. 2. Write the account number in the heading.

Posting From A Journal To A General Ledger Transferring information from a journal entry to a ledger account is called posting. There are two rules for posting amounts from a journal: 1. Separate amounts in a journal’s general amount columns are posted individually to the account written in the Account Title column. 2. Separate amounts in a journal’s special amounts columns are not posted individually. Instead, the special amounts column totals are posted.

Five steps for Posting 1. Write the date in the Date column. 2. Write the journal page number in the Post. Ref. Column. 3. Write the amount in the Debit or Credit column. 4. Calculate and write the new account balance in the Balance Debit or Balance Credit column. (Note: When debits exceeds credits, the balance is a debit; when credits exceeds debits, the balance is a credit) 5. Write the account number in the Post. Ref. Column of the journal. (Indicates if journal entry needs to be posted or has already been posted)

Journal Entries that are NOT Posted Individually Forwarding Totals Amounts recorded in special amount columns: Sales Credit Cash Debit Cash Credit

Posting the Totals of Amount Columns Only the totals of special amount columns are posted. The General Debit and Credit columns are not special amount columns, therefore each entry is posted individually. A check mark is placed below each general amount column total to indicate that the totals of the columns are not posted.