The general ledger (GL) is a record of all transactions that occur in an entity. It is maintained by recording debit and credit transactions in a process known as posting. After transactions have been posted, the balance in each account is updated.

Journal entries are the basis of most GL records. Journal entries directly map to GL postings, and the general ledger lets you view the activity and balance of each account at a glance. See Journal Entry.

Transactions recorded in the official layer or management layer are created and posted as part of the same journal entry process. Transactions recorded in the transient layer can be transferred to the official layer or management layer.

Simple GL transactions consist of multiple posting lines associated with amounts and GL accounts. During posting, the transaction detail in the posting line is used to update cumulative account balance detail records for the GL period. This detail is then used when generating financial statements and summary reports.