What it means
Every transaction is first a voucher: an invoice, a payment, a journal. Posting the voucher puts its debit and credit into the ledgers of the accounts it touches. The general ledger holds all accounts; a party ledger shows one customer or supplier, the way a shop’s khata does. The closing balances of all ledgers feed the trial balance and the financial statements.
Example
Shree Lakshmi Hardware’s ledger in Kaveri Agencies’ books, November 2026:
| Date | Voucher | Debit | Credit | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov | Opening balance | ₹42,000 Dr | ||
| 3 Nov | Invoice KA/26-27/0412 | ₹1,77,000 | ₹2,19,000 Dr | |
| 10 Nov | Credit note KA-CN/26-27/018 | ₹14,750 | ₹2,04,250 Dr | |
| 20 Nov | Bank receipt | ₹1,50,000 | ₹54,250 Dr |
“Dr” means the customer owes Kaveri ₹54,250.
Common mistakes
- Two ledgers for the same party (“Shree Lakshmi Hardware” and “Sri Lakshmi Hardwares”), which splits the balance.
- Posting receipts “on account” and never matching them to invoices, so ageing looks worse than it is.
- Editing a posted entry instead of reversing it, which leaves no trail.
In MyRecords
Every submitted invoice, payment and journal posts to the general ledger at once, with debits equal to credits. The General ledger page shows an account, a party or a voucher with the opening, total debit, total credit, closing and a running balance, and party ledgers come from the same postings. “Customers owe you” is the customers’ balance in that ledger; when it differs from the unpaid invoices, a line says why.