General Ledger vs Sub Ledger

General Ledger vs Sub Ledger Differences

Recording of financial information is books of account as per standard accounting principle. General ledger and sub-ledger both are used to record a financial transaction. The general ledger is the principal set of accounts where all financial transactions are recorded General ledger contain all debit and credit entries of transaction and entry for same is done in different account mainly there are five types of accounts assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expense.

A subsidiary ledger is the subset of general ledger in the accounting it is not possible to record all transaction in general ledger hence transaction are recorded in sun ledger in a different account and their total sum is reflected in general ledger. Ledger helps in the understanding of financial of business and helps in the analysis of transactions.

What is General Ledger?

The general ledger is a set of master accounts where transactions are recorded. The general ledger is the principal set of accounts where all financial transactions are recorded General ledger contain all debit and credit entries of transaction and entry for same is done in different account mainly there are five types of accounts assets, liabilities, equity, income and expense. But there are limitations in the recording of the transaction so the sum of a different subset of sub-ledger is added in general ledger. It is also referred to as a chart of account master. General ledger control sub-ledger.

Examples of the general ledger are account receivable, account payable, cash management, bank management, and fixed asset. It is a group of accounts with different characteristics and trial balance is used by using a general ledger.

What is Sub Ledger?

Sub-ledger is also known as a subsidiary ledger. Sub-ledger is an intermediary set of accounts linked to the general ledger. It is a detailed subset of accounts that contains transaction information. It is the subset of general ledger in the accounting it is not possible to record all transaction in general ledger hence transaction are recorded in sub ledger in a different account and their total sum is reflected in general ledger. The total of sub-ledger should always match with the line item amount on the general ledger. So, it contains detail information regarding the business transaction and financial accounts. It can include purchase, payable, receivable, production cost and payroll.

Examples of Subsidiary ledger are customer accounts, vendor accounts, bank accounts, and fixed assets. The groups of transactions have common characteristics. Sub-ledger is part of the general ledger but the Trial balance is not prepared by using a general ledger.

General Ledger vs Sub Ledger Infographics

Here we provide you with the top 9 difference between General Ledger vs Sub Ledger

General Ledger vs Sub Ledger – Key Differences

The key differences between General Ledger vs Sub Ledger are as follows –

The general ledger is a set of master accounts where transactions are recorded whereas Sub-ledger is an intermediary set of accounts linked to the general ledger.
Examples of the general ledger are account receivable, account payable, cash management, bank management and fixed asset and examples of sub-ledger are customer accounts, vendor accounts, bank accounts and fixed assets.
The groups of transactions have different characteristics in general ledger whereas in the Subsidiary ledger the groups of transactions have common characteristics.
There can be only one ledger account in general ledger and there can be many sub-ledger accounts.
General ledger contains a limited volume of data whereas Sub-ledger contains a large volume of data.
General ledger has a chart of accounts whereas sub-ledger does not have charts of accounts.
General ledger has no such requirement for the ledger account whereas the total of sub-ledger should always match with the line item amount on the general ledger.
General ledger control sub-ledger whereas Sub-ledger is part of the general ledger.
The trial balance is prepared by using general ledger whereas trial balance is not prepared by using a general ledger.

General Ledger vs Sub Ledger Head to Head Difference

Let’s now look at the head to head difference between General Ledger vs Sub Ledger

General Ledger		Sub Ledger
The general ledger is a set of master accounts where accounting transactions are recorded.		Sub-ledger is an intermediary set of accounts linked to the general ledger.
Examples of the general ledger are account receivable, account payable, cash management, bank management and fixed asset.		Examples of sub-ledger are customer accounts, vendor accounts, bank accounts and fixed assets.
The groups of transactions have different characteristics.		The groups of transactions have common characteristics.
There can be only one ledger account.		There can be many sub-ledger accounts.
It contains a limited volume of data.		It contains a large volume of data.
It has a chart of accounts.		It does not have charts of accounts.
There is no such requirement for the ledger account.		The total of Subsidiary ledger should always match with the line item amount on the general ledger.
General ledger control sub-ledger.		Sub-ledger is part of the general ledger.
The trial balance is prepared by using a general ledger.		The trial balance is not prepared by using a general ledger.

Final Thoughts

General ledger and sub-ledger both are used to record a financial transaction. General ledger is set of master accounts and transactions are recorded and Sub-ledger is an intermediary set of accounts linked to the general ledger. General ledger contains all debit and credit entries of transaction and entry for the same is done. General ledger has all account which is needed in double entry accounting books which means that each financial transaction affects at least two sun ledger accounts and each entry has at least one debit against which one credit transaction is there. Sub-ledger is a detailed subset of accounts that contains transaction information.