Assets
What the business owns, such as cash, stock and equipment.
Finance
What is a general ledger?
The general ledger explained in plain English: what it is, how it's structured and why it matters.
The general ledger in plain terms
The general ledger (GL) is the master record of every financial transaction a business makes. Each transaction is recorded in accounts, grouped under a chart of accounts, using double-entry bookkeeping.
Everything in your financial statements, from the profit and loss to the balance sheet, is built from the general ledger. If the ledger is right, the reports are right.
How the general ledger is organised
The main account types.
Liabilities
What the business owes, such as supplier bills and loans.
Equity
The owners' stake in the business.
Income
Revenue from sales and other sources.
Expenses
The costs of running the business.
Dimensions
Extra tags such as department or project for analysis.
Try Business Central in an environment built around your business
Most trials drop you into a generic demo company that looks nothing like the way you actually work. Ours doesn't. We configure your free trial around your business and the use case you care about, so you and your team can test real scenarios with data and processes you recognise.
It starts with a short questionnaire about your industry, your current systems and what you want to prove out. Once that's back with us, your tailored trial can usually be made available within a few working days. Prefer a guided walkthrough first? A standard demo is still on the table - just tell us which you'd like.
Tell us about your business
Complete a short questionnaire covering your industry, processes and the things you most want to test.
We configure your trial
We set up a Business Central environment around your use case, so you're not clicking through a generic demo company.
You're up and running in days
Your tailored trial is typically ready within a few working days of the questionnaire coming back to us.
Enquiry form
Get in touch
Tell us about your current ledger and reporting and we'll show you how Business Central would help.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
To record every financial transaction in one place, so the business can produce accurate financial statements.
The list of all accounts in the general ledger, organised by type.
Sub-ledgers hold detail, such as individual customer or supplier balances. Totals post to the general ledger.
Yes. Business Central includes a full general ledger with dimensions for analysis.