General Ledger Status

Transactions in the general ledger have a status of open or closed. Using the GL Edit & Query function, you can query for transactions based on their status.

Although closing (reconciling) general ledger transactions is not required, it is recommended so that you can use the Status criterion in GL Edit & Query, and so that the Balance GL to Subledgers report is easier to use.

Transactions that are in open-item accounts are closed when the debits and credits (plus and minus transactions) for items applied to each other net to zero. For example, an invoice item with a receivable form of payment and the cash receipt applied to it nets to zero, if the customer has paid in full. Although the general ledger status is similar to the invoice status, it is independent in that closing (applying) the invoice item does not change the general ledger status. Use Automatic Reconciliation and Manual Reconciliation to close transactions in open-item accounts.

Transactions in bank accounts are typically reconciled. For bank account transactions, reconciling means that they have been matched to a transaction on your bank statement. Use Bank Reconciliation to close bank account transactions.

Although you can close transactions in GL Edit & Query, it is recommended that you use the Automatic, Manual, and Bank Reconciliation functions to do this. These functions have controls to ensure closing is done correctly.