General ledger definition. Analyzing the definition of key terms often provides more insight about concepts. General ledger can be defined as record containing all accounts (with amounts) for a business; also called ledger.
A T-account is a shorthand way to represent the general ledger, the general ledger recording the detail of transactions in each account, ordering transaction detail by date. For example, our cash T-account example started with a beginning balance of $1,000 and was decreased by a $200 transaction to arrive at a balance of $800. The general ledger allows us to see the detail behind the account balance of $800, to see the $1,000 beginning balance, and $200 transaction.
A T-account works great for short calculations but where more transactions are needed it is helpful to see dates and a running balance. Below is an example of a general ledger showing more transactions which include dates of transactions and a running balance of the account total for each date.
Each account will have its own general ledger account just as each account had its own T-account, each account having a normal balance of either debit or credit. Accounts with a normal credit balance will increase with a credit and decrease with a debt, just as they had with our T-account example of the accounts payable account. Below is an example of accounts payable general ledger.

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