> ## Knowledge Base Index
> Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.booksgpt.ai/sitemap.xml
> Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further.
> Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash).

# Read the General Ledger

The General Ledger is every posted journal line in a date range, one account at a time. Each account opens at its **Beginning balance**, each line under it runs that account's own **Balance**, and the account closes at its own total.

| It is the report you open when a number on another report needs proof.

## Open the General Ledger

1. Open **All pages** in the left sidebar, then under **Reports** click [**General ledger**](https://app.booksgpt.ai/go/general-ledger).
2. The page title is **General Ledger**.
3. Set **Report period**.
4. Switch **Accounting basis** between **Accrual** and **Cash**.

![General Ledger grouped by account, with Beginning balance, Name, Source, Debit, Credit, and Balance](https://booksgpt.ai/help/reports/general-ledger-per-account.png)

## How each account reads

- The account's code and name sit on their own row, with **Beginning balance**.
- For an asset, liability, or equity account, that figure is as of the day before the range. For income and expense, it is this fiscal year's total so far: **$0.00** on a full-year report, January through February on a March report. Earlier years sit on **Retained Earnings**, same as the Balance Sheet.
- Every line under that row belongs to that account. **Balance** is that account's balance after the line.
- **Total {account}** closes the account at the same figure the Balance Sheet (or Profit & loss) prints for it.

### Keep your place while you scroll

- The column headings stay at the top as you scroll down.
- The account you are reading stays pinned under them, with its **Beginning balance**, until the next account's heading takes over.
- On a phone or a narrow window, the ledger scrolls sideways in its own box. The account name stays on the left. A faint shading at an edge means more columns that way.

## An account with no lines this period

- An account that carried a balance in and had no activity still prints: its heading, its **Beginning balance**, and its **Total**, with no lines between them. That is the ordinary shape of **Retained Earnings**.

![Retained Earnings with Beginning balance and Total, and no lines between them](https://booksgpt.ai/help/reports/general-ledger-balance-only.png)

|| This is not a missing section. The account carried a balance in and did nothing, so there is nothing to list.

## The columns

- **Date** is the posting date used by the selected basis.
- **Name** is who the money moved with. It is blank when nothing names one.
- **Source** says what created the line, in words: **Bank**, **Invoice**, **Bill**, **Journal**, **Opening**. A bank row nobody has filed yet reads **Bank, not reviewed**. Inventory lines read **Opening inventory**, **Inventory purchase**, **Cost of goods sold**, **Landed cost**, or **Inventory cost update**.
- **Description** is the line's memo.
- **Debit** and **Credit** show the money as posted. The empty side shows a dash.
- **Balance** is this account's running balance. A credit card you owe $581.79 on prints $581.79, not ($581.79), so the column ties to the Balance Sheet.

## Read one account

1. Open [**Account balances**](https://app.booksgpt.ai/go/account-balances). See "Account balances, income by customer, and purchases by vendor".
2. Click the account's name.
3. The General Ledger opens with a **Filtered to account** banner naming it.

## When a total is not final

An amber line under the title names money the report cannot see.

![Amber line that 4 transactions worth $2,480.00 are not in these numbers yet](https://booksgpt.ai/help/reports/general-ledger-not-in-books.png)

- The line reads **N transactions worth $X are not in these numbers yet**.
- Those are bank rows with no journal entry, so they sit in no account.
- Click the line to open [**To review**](https://app.booksgpt.ai/go/review).

|| This is not the **N not reviewed** chip on Profit & loss. That chip is money already in Uncategorized. This line is money that is not in the books at all.

## Good to know

- **Export this report** downloads Excel or CSV. **Print or save as PDF** gives you a copy.
- For one account's rows with receipts and reconciliation marks, use its register instead. See "Open an account register".

|| Lines are read-only here. To fix one, post the correction where it came from, or post an adjusting entry. See "Post an adjusting journal entry".