General ledger: journals, budgets, period close
Journals, budget vs actual, parent accounts and closing a period.
Journal & General Ledger
One ledger the whole business fills — planned, checked and closed.
Sales, purchases, banking, payroll and manufacturing post their own journals. Around them TamilAccounting gives the accountant a chart of accounts that stays readable, journals that must balance, budgets measured against the books, and a close that keeps a signed-off year exactly as it was.
Parent & child accounts
Budget vs actual
Journals that must balance
Period close & locking
Restore a deleted journal
Audit trail
What’s new
New in the General Ledger
Added through 2026: planning against the books, a growing chart of accounts kept readable, foreign-currency lines shown as they were booked, and a wrong delete undone.
New
Budgets by month, branch and department
Set each account’s budget month by month for the company, a branch or a department. Spread an annual figure evenly or copy last year’s actuals, and note the purpose of every budget.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Budget Inquiry
Budget beside actual with the variance and achieved percentage, grouped by class and account group — green when it is good news, red when it is not — and any account month by month.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Budget vs Actual report
The printed twin of Budget Inquiry, by account group, branch and department, with an optional month-by-month section; PDF or Excel.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Parent and child accounts
File related accounts under a parent. The trial balance, balance sheet and profit & loss show one line per family with a + to open it, and every total stays exactly the same.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Restore a deleted journal
A journal deleted as Restorable reopens in a ready-filled entry screen, so you choose the date before it posts again — useful when the original month is closed.
Watch the walkthroughNew
Delete Permanently
A restorable deleted entry can now also be given up for good, turning it into an ordinary void — with the same delete rights a void needs.
New
Ledger lines in their own currency
GL Inquiry, GL Account Inquiry and Journal Inquiry show each line’s currency, rate and amount in that currency, and so do GL Account Transactions and Statement of Accounts.
New
Statement of Cash Flows
Indirect and receipts-and-payments views from the same ledger, with a cash-flow section on each account group; PDF or Excel.
Learn moreGeneral Ledger overview
This month’s journals and movements, active accounts, today’s postings, anything voided and the date the books were last closed.
Watch the walkthrough
Without it
Where a ledger stops being trusted
The ledger is only as good as the habits around it. These are the problems accountants bring to us most often.
A trial balance like a phone book
Every new bank account, suspense account or expense split adds a line. Before long the statements are complete but nobody can read them.
Cost: owners stop reading the reports they pay for.
Budgets in a spreadsheet
The budget lives in a file, the actuals in the books. Comparing them means exporting, pasting and hoping the account codes still line up.
Cost: overspending noticed at year end, not in month two.
A signed-off year that changes
A back-dated sale or a late bill lands in a year the auditor has already signed, and last year’s figures quietly move.
Cost: filed returns and audited accounts that no longer agree with the books.
The wrong entry deleted
A journal removed as a “duplicate” turns out to be real. Rebuilding it line by line, with the right accounts and dimensions, takes longer than the original.
Cost: hours of re-keying, and a fresh chance of error.
Foreign lines shown only in home currency
A dollar invoice and a euro payment both read in rupees on the ledger. Checking them against the party’s statement means finding the original document.
Cost: slow reviews of every foreign-currency account.
Nobody knows who changed what
When a figure moves, the question is who entered, changed or closed it, and when. Without a trail, the answer is a guess.
Cost: weak controls, and harder audits every year.
With TamilAccounting
From the chart of accounts to a closed period
Most postings arrive by themselves. The ledger is where they are organised, planned against, checked and locked.
Chart of accountsClasses, groups, tags and parent accounts
Automatic journalsEvery module posts its own entries
Manual journalsAccruals and adjustments that must balance
BudgetsBy month, branch and department
InquiryAny account, any period, down to the document
Budget vs actualVariances flagged as they happen
StatementsTrial balance, P&L, balance sheet, cash flow
CloseNothing on or before the date can change
How it works
Everything the General Ledger does, in detail
Chart of accounts
A chart that grows without becoming unreadable
Accounts sit inside groups and groups inside classes, so every account knows where it belongs on the balance sheet or the profit and loss. As the chart grows, related accounts file under a parent.
- One level of parent and child, inside the same account group — loops are impossible
- Trial balance, balance sheet and profit & loss show one line per family with a +
- Printed reports show the family as an indented tree with its subtotal
- A parent is still a normal posting account; its own balance shows on its own line
- Account tags give a second way to slice the chart
[−] Bank accounts — Head office0Parent
Bank — Main branch4,50,000 DrChild
Bank — Payroll2,75,000 DrChild
Total Bank accounts — Head office7,25,000 DrSubtotal
[+] Trade receivables3,40,000 Dr3 accounts
Journals
Journals that will not post until they balance
For everything that does not post by itself — accruals, provisions, reclassifications — there is Journal Entry: accounts, branch and department, a debit or credit on each line, and a memo.
- It refuses to post until debits equal credits
- Save a half-finished journal as a draft
- Quick Entries for postings that repeat every month
- Print or download any journal as a voucher, in PDF or Excel
- Journal Inquiry finds any entry, from any module, by reference, type, date, user or branch
Inquiry
Every account’s history, down to the document
GL Inquiry opens any account over any period with its opening balance, a running balance after every line and the ending balance. Every line opens the document behind it.
- Filter by transaction type, amount range, memo, branch or department
- Foreign-currency lines show their own currency, rate and amount beside the home figure
- The same own-currency column on GL Account Transactions and Statement of Accounts
- Missing Ledger Codes lists any transaction type that still has no account to post to
Budgets
Budgets measured against the books, not a spreadsheet
Budget Entry sets an account’s budget for a financial year, month by month, for the whole company or one branch or department. Budget Inquiry then puts it beside what was actually posted.
- Spread Evenly divides an annual figure; Copy Last Year starts from last year’s actuals
- A purpose on every budget, so a year later everyone knows what it was for
- Cards for budgeted profit, actual profit, the variance and cost accounts over budget
- Variances green when favourable, red when not; parent accounts roll up
- Pick one account to see it month by month with running totals
Budgeted profit₹9.0 L
Actual profit₹8.4 L
Over budget2 accounts
Sales104.2%+₹50,000
Rent111.1%+₹15,000
Utilities82.0%−₹4,870
Travel · Branch B96.5%On track
Close & control
Close the period — and undo a wrong delete safely
GL Closing sets the date the books are closed up to. Nothing dated on or before it can be entered, edited or voided in any module: not a back-dated sale, not a late bill, not a journal.
- Granted by role, so the person who signs off is the person who closes
- Delete a journal as Restorable and it waits in the Voided / Deleted register
- Restore reopens it ready-filled, so a closed month gets a new, open date
- Delete Permanently gives a restore up for good, as an ordinary void
- The Audit Trail report shows who entered, changed or closed each transaction, and when
Books closed up to31 Mar
Restorable2
Journal · Accrual, audit fee25,000.00Restore
Bank payment · Supplier A18,880.00Restore
Journal · Reclass, duplicate4,200.00Voided
Reports
Every ledger report, in PDF or Excel
The reports read straight from the same ledger the screens use, filtered by period, branch and department.
- Trial Balance in four layouts: simple, summary, detailed and standard
- Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss, with comparisons including against budget
- Budget vs Actual and the Statement of Cash Flows
- GL Account Transactions, for customers and suppliers too, and Statement of Accounts
- Journal Entries list, Annual Expense Breakdown, Chart of Accounts and Audit Trail
Worked examples
Debits equal credits — and grouping never moves a total
Invented figures on a demo company.
A month-end accrual
Audit fee for September, not yet billed
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting & legal | 25,000.00 | |
| Accrued expenses | 25,000.00 | |
| Totals | 25,000.00 | 25,000.00 |
The expense lands in the month it belongs to. The difference is zero, so the journal posts; one rupee out and it is refused.
A parent with its own balance
Profit & loss, family opened with the +
| Account | Period |
|---|---|
| Interest & bank charges (own postings) | 1,20,000.00 |
| Bank service charges | 35,000.00 |
| Total Interest & bank charges | 1,55,000.00 |
Folded, the family is one line of 1,55,000.00. Group, class and grand totals are the same either way — the subtotal is a presentation line, never an extra amount.
Watch it in action
Watch the ledger from journal to period close
Recorded on a demo company: parent accounts, a month-end accrual, budgets read against the books, the period close — and a deleted entry brought back.
Deleted the wrong entry? Restore it
Voided and deleted transactions can be brought back, with the trail intact.
Financial statements
Trial balance, P&L against budget, balance sheet and the period statement.
Quick takes · under a minute or two
More features
The details that keep the ledger clean
Quick Entries
Save rent, depreciation or any repeating posting once and pick it from the journal instead of typing it again.
Account tags
Tag accounts across groups and classes, and run the profit and loss or balance sheet by tag.
Missing Ledger Codes
Flags any transaction type that has no account to post to, before it becomes a gap in the books.
Branches & departments
Every journal line can carry a branch and department, and inquiries, budgets and statements filter by them.
Chart of accounts import
Bring your codes and structure across from a spreadsheet, including a parent code column for an already-grouped chart.
Draft journals
Save a half-finished journal and finish it later; nothing reaches the ledger until it is processed.
Audit Trail
Date, time, user, type, reference and amount for each transaction, filtered by period, type and user.
Ledger overview
Debit and credit activity for this month, last month, six months or a year, beside the accounts that moved most.
Side by side
A basic ledger and spreadsheets vs. TamilAccounting
| Basic ledger + spreadsheets | TamilAccounting | |
|---|---|---|
| Growing chart of accounts | Every split adds a line to the statements | Parent accounts fold into one line with a + |
| Budgets | A separate file, compared by hand | By month, branch and department, read against actuals |
| Unbalanced journals | Found at trial balance time | Refused before they post |
| A signed-off year | Open to back-dated entries | Closed up to a date in every module |
| A wrong delete | Re-keyed from memory | Restored, ready-filled, with a new date |
| Foreign-currency lines | Home currency only | Own currency, rate and home amount together |
| Who changed what | Nobody is sure | Audit Trail by user, type and period |
Works with
Modules that post to the ledger
Financial StatementsTrial balance, profit and loss against budget, balance sheet and the statement of cash flows.Explore Banking NewStatement import that matches your books and reconciles on the statement date.Explore Sales & ReceivablesInvoices, receipts and credit notes post their own journals as they are saved.Explore Purchases & PayablesSupplier bills, payments and debit notes, matched to orders and goods received.Explore Taxes & FilingsGST and VAT posted from every document, with returns from the same ledger.Explore HR & PayrollPayroll posts salaries, deductions and payments to the accounts you map once.Explore ManufacturingMaterial, labour and overhead posted to work in progress and finished goods.Explore Inventories & ServicesStock valuation that ties to the inventory account on the balance sheet.Explore
Why businesses stay
Bring your data. We’ll keep it right — and keep making it better.
Switching software is the hard part. We help you move, keep your records sound, and keep improving the system with you.
Data migration & opening balances
Move across from Tally, Zoho, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage 50 or SMACC, or from Excel templates for items, customers, suppliers, employees, chart of accounts and opening balances. You preview every row before it is saved — and our team helps you through it.
Your data, kept right
Your database is backed up three times a day — every 8 hours — and your files are backed up too. Each company keeps its own separate database; roles decide who can see, enter, approve or void; every change is on the audit trail; and everything exports to Excel or PDF whenever you want it.
Always improving, with you
We follow up regularly with the businesses that use it, and their requests become features. Updates arrive on your account automatically — nothing to download or reinstall.
Connected to what comes next
GST e-invoice and e-way bill, ZATCA, WooCommerce, WhatsApp, biometric devices, online payment gateways, mobile apps and an AI assistant — and new connections are added as the market moves.
FAQ
General ledger: common questions
No. Grouping only changes how the rows read. Group, class and grand totals are worked out exactly as before; the family subtotal is an extra presentation line, never an extra amount.
Yes. A parent is an ordinary posting account. When its family is opened, its own balance shows on its own line, separate from the family total.
No — grouping is exactly one level, and parent and child must share the same account group. Deeper structure belongs to account groups and sub-groups, which the statements already nest. Set the parent back to None (Top Level) at any time to undo it.
Use GL Closing. Close the books up to a date, and nothing dated on or before it can be entered, edited or voided in any module — not a back-dated sale, a late bill or a journal.
Yes. A budget can be set for the whole company or for one branch or department, month by month, and Budget Inquiry and the Budget vs Actual report filter the same way.
If it was deleted as Restorable, yes. Restore it from the Voided / Deleted register under Setup; it reopens in a ready-filled journal so you can check the date and post it again. If you never want it back, Delete Permanently turns it into an ordinary void.
The ledger keeps every line in your home currency, and the inquiry screens and GL Account Transactions also show the line’s own currency, the rate and the amount in that currency, so a dollar invoice reads as dollars beside its rupee value.
Yes. The chart of accounts import brings your codes and structure across as they are, including a parent code column, so an already-grouped chart comes in in one step.
A ledger you can plan against and close with confidence.
Start free, bring your chart of accounts across and see your budget beside your actuals.