The Procurement Glossary » General Ledger (GL)

General Ledger (GL)

Finance & Payments

Also known as: GL

Definition

The central accounting record holding all of a company's financial transactions.

Explanation

Procurement transactions ultimately post to the GL via accounts payable. Clean coding and matching keep the GL accurate, which is why P2P data quality matters to finance for reporting and audit.

Example

Approved, matched invoices post to the GL under their coded accounts.

Related terms

• Chart of Accounts (CoA) — The structured list of account codes a business uses to record and classify financial transactions.
• Accounts Payable (AP) — The function and ledger responsible for recording and paying what a business owes its suppliers.
• Cost Center — An organisational unit to which costs are assigned for tracking and accountability.
• Accrual — An accounting entry recognising a cost that has been incurred but not yet invoiced or paid.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is General Ledger (GL)?

The central accounting record holding all of a company's financial transactions. Procurement transactions ultimately post to the GL via accounts payable. Clean coding and matching keep the GL accurate, which is why P2P data quality matters to finance for reporting and audit.

Can you give an example of General Ledger (GL)?

Approved, matched invoices post to the GL under their coded accounts.

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