Difference between a General Ledger and a Ledger

A ledger contains individual balances of accounts. Then there comes another type of ledger, i.e. General ledger. A General ledger provides a combined balance of all company’s accounts.

What is a General Ledger?

A general ledger is a physical or digital record of a company’s financial accounts, including assets, liabilities, equity, expenses, and income. A general ledger is the basis of any company’s financial reporting and the source of information required by all stakeholders. The general ledger is also known as the “book of final entry” as all the transactions of a company’s accounting period are recorded in the general ledger.

Key takeaways from the general ledger:

• A general ledger is more of a summarised form of all the company’s financial accounts.
• General Ledger is the key to the preparation of financial reporting documents like balance sheets, income statements, etc.
• A general ledger is the foundation of a double-entry accounting system as the transactions entered in it are either debit or credit.
• Transactions are recorded from source documents like bills, cash memos, etc. and then entries are passed into the general journal and in the general ledger.

What is a Ledger?

A ledger is a book or digital record containing bookkeeping entries. A ledger contains more detailed information on any transaction that takes place during any accounting period. A ledger is also known as the “second book of entry” as after passing the transaction in the journal, transactions get recorded in the ledger. Companies can maintain a ledger of any type of account like account receivables, sales, payroll, cash, etc. A ledger helps in the preparation of trial balance, spotting unusual transactions and creation of financial documents.

Key takeaways from the ledger:

• It includes detailed information regarding every transactions happening during an accounting period.
• Transactions are recorded from source documents like bills, cash memos, etc. and then entries are passed into the journal and in the ledger.
• Ledger mainly provides data for the preparation of trial balance and spotting unusual transactions.

Difference between a General Ledger and a Ledger

Basis	General ledger	Ledger
Level of detail	A general ledger is a summarized form of all of a company’s accounts.	A ledger contains detailed transaction information for accounts/transactions.
Alternate name	Book of final entry is the alternate name of General ledger.	Second book of entry is the alternate name of Ledger.
Motive	A general ledger provides data for the preparation of financial statements.	A ledger provides data for the preparation of specific account-level reports.
Format	It contains the opening balance, the debit and credit entries, and the closing balance.	It contains debit and credit balances of each and every account.
Scope	The scope is broad.	The scope is narrow.
Frequency of posting	A general ledger is prepared usually at the end of accounting year.	A ledger is prepared more frequently, as and when the transaction occurs.
Accessibility	Accessible to higher level authorities, shareholders, BOD, etc.	Accessible to individuals/departments responsible for particular accounts.