ledger
LEJ-er
/ˈledʒər/
A book or principal digital record for tracking financial transactions and account balances.
Emphasizes the historical record of debits, credits, and balances rather than the physical or software platform used to store them.
The story behind the word. In Middle English, a 'legger' was a large book laid permanently in a church or office, too heavy to be moved around easily. By the 16th century, merchants adopted the term specifically for their main account books that remained stationed on an accountant's desk.
Word relationships
- account book: An account book is a general physical register, while a ledger specifically implies a categorized record of financial accounts.
- estimate: An estimate is a projection of future costs, whereas a ledger records past factual transactions.
Commonly confused with
- journal: A journal records transactions chronologically as they occur, whereas a ledger categorizes transactions by account.
Word family
- ledgers (noun): Plural form of ledger.
Collocations
- general ledger
- distributed ledger
- triple-entry ledger
- immutable ledger
Idioms & expressions
- cook the books
- balance the ledger
Example sentences
- "Every transaction was meticulously recorded by hand in the heavy leather bound ledger maintained in the vault." Historical Accounting
- "In a decentralized network, every participant maintains an identical copy of the digital ledger." Distributed Technology
- "Auditors spent three weeks examining the general ledger to verify revenues reported by the subsidiary." Corporate Finance
Memory hook
A heavy book left LAYing on a desk to record every cent spent. The master book where records lay.
When not to use
Do not confuse with a balance sheet, which summarizes financial position at a single point in time, whereas a ledger details all historical entries.
Fun facts
- Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli documented double-entry ledger bookkeeping in 1494, a system still used worldwide today.
Related words
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