General Ledger

What this does

Reports → General Ledger is the account-level detail behind every statement. Pick an account and a date range and you get the opening balance, each posted line in date order with its entry number, description, reference, debit, credit, and running balance, and the closing balance. Pick All accounts and you get the same for every account with activity, grouped by account code, which is the export an outside accountant asks for.

Before you start

reports.view. Know the account: the trial balance or a statement line points you at it.

Steps

Account (or All accounts), From, To, Run Report. Each row's entry number links to the journal entry, where you can see the other side of the posting, its source document, and (for a check or card entry) edit or void it. Export CSV produces Account, Date, Entry #, Description, Reference, Debit, Credit, Balance.

How to read it

The opening balance is the account's posted balance the day before From. Every row after it is one journal-entry line; the entry's other lines are on their own accounts. Reference is the document behind the entry (an invoice number, a check id, a deposit number) and Source names the screen that posted it: invoice, payment, deposit, check, cc_transaction, cc_credit, bill, bill_payment, inbox_approve, inbox_ar_clear, inbox_nonar_clear, transfer, petty_cash, opening_balance, Manual, and the reversals (invoice_void, check_void, cc_void, payment_reversal). Reconciliation marks historical balance snapshots from the migration.

For a bank or card account, the account register under Banking shows the same lines in a friendlier form with Edit and Void on each row. Use the General Ledger for non-bank accounts (revenue, expense, AR, AP, tax, equity) and for the export.

Common problems

The opening balance is wrong. Something before From is wrong; widen the range back to when the account was last known good and scan for it.

A line has no description. The posting screen didn't set one. The entry's own description (click through) usually says.

I need this for one customer or one vendor. The ledger is by account, not by party. Use the customer's page or the vendor's page for that view.