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A General Ledger identifies each account individually
and includes posted transactions and balances.
◦ Posting is the process of transferring original entries from the
journal to the ledger
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Includes details of all transactions for each account.
Grouped by account.
◦ There is a general ledger account for each account that is part
of the Chart of Accounts
 See blank General Ledger excel file
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Create the General Ledger Accounts
◦ General Ledger forms provided
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Beginning balances should be recorded for those
accounts that have them.
Sample case: Three accounts have beginning balance:
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Cash (debit) $10,000
Supplies (debit) $500
Owners Name, Capital (credit) $10,500.
All other accounts begin with a zero balance.
 See provided solution: Beginning Balance Sheet
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The Multicolumn Journal is used for original entry into
the accounting system.
Every transaction must be recorded in the journal as
the first step in recording transactions.
All transaction records originate in the Journal, from
which they are posted to the General Ledger and
advanced through the Accounting Cycle.
Each transaction has a Debit and a Credit entry that
will always equal each other
◦ Debit means “left” and Credit means “right”
 Nothing more, nothing less
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See provided blank Multicolumn Journal
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Efficient way of recording frequently occurring
transactions.
Only the totals of the special columns need to be
posted.
◦ Significantly decreases the amount of time required to post the
Journal entries to the General Ledger.
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Some transactions do not make use of a special column
and must be listed individually in the GENERAL
columns.
See provided blank Multicolumn Journal