Lessons · Accounting · posting to the ledger
Posting: from the journal to the ledger
The journal is a diary in date order. The ledger is one page per account. Posting copies each side of each entry onto its account's page, so every account can show a balance.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The owner asks how much is in the bank right now. The journal cannot say; it is a list of what happened. The cash page in the ledger can, because every cash line has been copied there and added up.
How to think about it
Take each journal entry, and for each line find the account's page and write the amount on the same side it had in the entry. Then add each page's two sides and take the difference.
Worked example
Journal: Dr Cash 5,000 / Cr Owner's capital 5,000The first entry. The owner put money in.
Journal: Dr Rent expense 1,200 / Cr Cash 1,200The second. Rent paid.
Cash page: left 5,000; right 1,200Both cash lines copied to the cash page, each on its own side.
Cash balance = 5,000 − 1,200 = 3,800 DrThe page answers the question. Owner's capital page: 5,000 Cr; rent page: 1,200 Dr.
Your turn
A third entry is posted: Dr Cash 2,000 / Cr Sales revenue 2,000. Write the cash balance after it.
Cash balance = Dr
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Posting one line of an entry and getting interrupted before the other. The journal balances, the ledger does not, and the trial balance at month-end is out by exactly that amount.