What is a general ledger?

The general ledger is the complete record of every transaction in your books, sorted by account. Each account lists its lines in date order: the date, the description, the amount, the account on the other side and a running balance.

Every report comes from it. The Profit and Loss adds up the income and expense accounts for a period, and the Balance Sheet takes each asset, liability and equity account's balance on a date. When a number on a report looks wrong, the general ledger is where you find out why.

It is also one of the first things a CPA asks for at year end, along with the year-end statements.

In Switchbooks, open Reports, then General Ledger, to see every account in chart order with opening and running balances. Switch can also hand it to you as an Excel file for any date range.