Tips on How to Post to Your Accounting Ledger
General Accounting Ledger - Periodically, the journal entries are transferred to the appropriate T-accounts in the general accounting ledger....a ledger is a group of accounts.
This process of transferring the debits and credits from the journal entries to the accounts is called posting.
In many computerized accounting systems this is done automatically, when journal entries are made. In a manual system, the journal entries are posted on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, called batch posting.
When you post, you just take each line from the journal entries, and transfer the amounts to the corresponding Ledger accounts.
Here is an example of posting some of the
accounting journal entries from this page
to the Cash account:
Cash-11
| Date |
Description |
Debit
|
Credit
|
Balance
|
| March-1 |
Balance forward from Feb-28 |
0 |
|
|
| 3/1 |
|
25000 |
|
|
| 3/5 |
|
|
1700 |
|
| 3/15 |
|
1250 |
|
|
| 3/28 |
|
|
3800 |
|
| 3/30 |
|
|
350 |
|
| 3/31 |
Balance |
20400 |
|
|
The title contains the name of the account and its reference number from your chart of accounts.
- First column is the date. Fill in the date of the transaction.
- Second column is the item. (It is not necessary to write out a description unless you just want to.)
- The third and fourth column is the debit and credit columns.
- The fifth column is the balance column. Some keep a running total, but most draw a line underneath the entries, net all the entries together, and put the balance on the correct side of the account.
Summary of example above:
Jane took the following
financial transactions recorded in her journal
financial transactions recorded in her general journal and posted them to her Cash Accounting Ledger
- First line is the balance carries forward from the month before.
- Second line is the owner’s contribution of $25,000 on March 1st to capitalize her business. (Increased cash – debit)
- On the 5th she wrote a check for $1700 for the lease on her shop.(Decreased cash – credit)
- On the 15th she had cash sales of $1250. (Increased cash – debit)
- On the 28th she paid $3800 to her suppliers for parts purchases earlier in the month on credit. (Decreased cash – credit)
- On the 30th she wrote a check to Oliver’s Office Supplies for supplies and furniture. (Decreased cash – credit)
*Notice where I put the balance. It is in the debit column. Each type of account will have a normal balance in either the debit or credit column depending on the category of the account:
- Asset accounts have a debit balance.
- Liabilities have a credit balance.
- Owner’s Equity have a credit balance.
- Incomes have a credit balance.
- Expenses have a debit balance.
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