Understanding General Ledger Posting Procedures

1. Ledger-A group of accounts. General Ledger-A ledger that contains all accounts needed to prepare financial statements. Posting-Transferring information from a journal entry to a ledger account. Account Number- The number assigned to an account. File Maintenance-The procedure for arranging accounts in a general ledger, assigning account numbers, and keeping records current. Chapter 6 Posting

2. Terms-Continued • Opening an Account-Writing an account title and number on the heading of an account. • Account Number----130 First number indicates classification, the next two numbers indicate location within the ledger

3. Opening an Account1)Write the account title in the heading.2)Write the account number in the heading Notes 6

4. Rules for Posting • Separate amounts in a journal’s general amount columns are posted individually to the account written in the Account Title column. • Separate amounts in a journal’s special amount columns are not posted individually. Instead, the special amount column totals are posted to the account named in the heading of the special amount column.

5. Steps in Posting • Write the date in the date column of the ledger • Write the journal page number in the Post. Ref. Column of the account. • Record the amount in either the debit or the credit column of the ledger just as it was in the journal. • Record the balance in the appropriate balance column.

6. Steps in Posting Continued • Return to the journal and write the account number in the Post. Ref. Column of the journal.

7. Posting Guides • Check Marks indicate that amounts are not posted. Check Marks appear in the Post Ref column of the journal if special amount columns are used for all number values. Also check marks are placed in () under the general debit and credit totals to indicate those totals are not posted.