ledger

A ledger or lieger (from the English dialect forms liggen or leggen, to lie or lay; in sense adapted from the Dutch substantive logger), is the principal book for recording transactions. Originally, the term referred to a large volume of Scripture/service book kept in one place in church and accessible.

According to Charles Wriothesley's Chronicle (1538):

the curates should provide a booke of the bible in Englishe, of the largest volume, to be a lidger in the same church for the parishioners to read on.

It is an application of this original meaning that is found in the commercial usage of the term for the principal book of account in a business house, the general ledger or nominal ledger (see also bookkeeping) and also in the terms purchase ledger and sales ledger.

The general ledger, sometimes known as the nominal ledger, is the main accounting record of a business which uses double-entry bookkeeping. It will usually include accounts for such items as current assets,fixed assets, liabilities, revenue and expense items, gains and losses. Each General Ledger is divided in two sections. The left hand side lists debit transactions and the right hand side lists credit transactions. This gives a 'T' shape to each individual general ledger account.

A purchase ledger is a system in accountancy by which a business records and monitors its creditors. The purchase ledger contains the individual accounts of suppliers from whom the business has made purchases on credit. Information on invoices and credit notes received, and payments made, are recorded in the supplier's account using the debits and credits system, with the balance of each account at a given moment representing the amount currently owed to that supplier.