Accounting

We answer your accounting questions.

Over 500 questions have been answered on our accounting blog.

accounting blog

October 23, 2009

What is the difference between a ledger and a trial balance?

A ledger is often defined as a book of accounts. Today a ledger is most likely an electronic record or file containing a group of accounts. For example, a company’s general ledger is the record containing all of its asset, liability, owner equity, revenue, expense, gain, and loss accounts. Each of these accounts will contain the amounts that are pertinent to the account.

A trial balance is a listing of the name and the balance of each of the accounts in the general ledger. The trial balance is not a financial statement. Rather, it is an internal report that documents which accounts have debit balances and which accounts have credit balances and proves that the total of the debit balances is equal to the total of the credit balances.

Learn more about Bookkeeping.

the accounting coach

About the Author: Harold Averkamp (CPA) has worked as an accountant, consultant, and university accounting instructor for more than 25 years.

He is the author of the 2010 Master Accounting Download Package which has been praised for it's ability to simplify accounting in a way that anybody can understand.



 Accounting Exams

Accounting Exams
Printable (PDF) Exams on 16 financial accounting topics and 19 managerial accounting topics. More Info...

     Accounting Bookkeeping Test

Bookkeeping Test
Test your bookkeeping skills. Printable (PDF) Bookkeeping Test with 175 total questions. More Info...

 Accounting Forms

Business Forms
Our Master Set of 80 Business Forms will assist you in preparing financial statements, financial ratios, break-even calculations, depreciation, standard cost variances, and more. More Info...


Comments

4 Responses to “What is the difference between a ledger and a trial balance?”

  1. Tweets that mention What is the difference between a ledger and a trial balance? | AccountingCoach.com Q&A -- Topsy.com on October 23rd, 2009 11:20 am

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Walter Humphry, Deirdre Morhet. Deirdre Morhet said: What is the difference between a ledger and a trial balance? http://bit.ly/4oyXPk [...]

  2. chanlida on October 28th, 2009 7:59 pm

    -Ledger shows a decresion or incresion of an account in a period of time
    - Trial balance shows all balances of account in the end of period of time

  3. thapelo on November 4th, 2009 10:31 am

    what do you understand by the term pro rata?

  4. Mohiuddin Hunzai on November 8th, 2009 3:20 pm

    Very good and easy way to understanding the accounting is Accounting Coach.com. Very welldone Ac Accounting Coach.com

Leave a Reply