Receipts and ledgersFill in
General ledger template
A one-account ledger page. Each line has a date, description, reference, debit, credit and a balance after the entry. The header holds the account name, account number, business and period, and the first row is marked Balance forward.
- Type your details or print blank
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
What prints
The page says General Ledger. Two rows of write-in fields come first: Account name and Account no., then Business and Period. The table has six columns: Date, Description, Ref., Debit, Credit and Balance. The top row has "Balance forward" printed in the Description column.
A footnote says to use one sheet per account, and that Ref. is the invoice, check or journal entry number a line came from. All figures are filled in by hand.
The settings
- Name at the top. An optional label that prints at the top right, such as the account's name.
- Register type. General ledger on this page.
- Rows. 12 to 36 entries per page.
One account, one sheet
A ledger gathers every entry for a single account in one place, such as Office Supplies, Sales, or Loan Payable. If you keep books by hand, you would give each account its own sheet and post to it from your receipts, invoices and journal. A page of 28 rows is plenty for a small shop's slower accounts, and busy accounts just continue onto a second page, carrying the balance forward.
The Ref. column is the thread back to the source. When you want to know why a number is there, the invoice or check number tells you where to look. Publication 583 explains why a business should keep supporting documents, and the SBA has an overview of managing business finances.
Worked example: an office supplies account
For an expense account, debits increase the balance. The page opens with Balance forward of $300.00. On January 4, invoice 2210 adds a $120.00 debit: 300.00 + 120.00 = $420.00. On January 15, invoice 2231 adds a $45.50 debit, giving $465.50. On January 22 you return an item and record credit memo 17 for $20.00 in the Credit column: 465.50 - 20.00 = $445.50. On January 29 a $63.25 debit brings the balance to $508.75.
Check by totals: debits are 120.00 + 45.50 + 63.25 = $228.75, credits are $20.00, and 300.00 + 228.75 - 20.00 = $508.75. For other kinds of accounts, such as income, a credit raises the balance, so the way you work out the balance changes. Write the rule at the top of the sheet.
A caveat
This is a bookkeeping worksheet. If you need double-entry books for an audit, a loan or a corporation, talk with an accountant.
Starting a new page
When a page fills up, total nothing: just write the last balance on the next sheet's Balance forward line and keep going. Label the sheets in order, such as page 1 and page 2, and file them together by account number.