A payment book keeps records of disbursements.
A payment ledger is a type of accounting record that helps you keep track of payments that are disbursed for specific purposes. It’s not uncommon for such a ledger to be created for a project or event, making it easy to track all expenses and disbursements related to that specific activity. Depending on the nature of the event or project, the general ledger can serve as a means of documenting funds received on the project, as well as funds paid to manage expenses associated with the activity.
Considered a basic approach to accounting, a payment ledger generally focuses on receiving payments related to a specific activity. For example, if students associated with a specific class choose to sell chocolate bars to raise money for a project, there’s a good chance a ledger will be kept during the activity. The details included in the ledger will typically include the buyer’s name, the number of units purchased, the total amount raised by the purchase, and often even the buyer’s shipping address.
Other examples of payment ledgers may include other types of data. Information such as the amount and number of the invoice, the payment method used to settle the invoice, and even the date payment is offered can be included in the detail. In situations where partial payments are received on account, it is likely that this amount and the date of payment will also be included in the general ledger detail. As with most types of accounting records, the purpose of the general ledger is to provide accurate and concise information about financial transactions so that there is a permanent history of events, without question about what happened and when those events occurred.
The complexity of the payment ledger will often depend on generally accepted accounting principles and the guidelines followed to create and run the project associated with the activity recorded in the ledger. This means that a payment log kept to track activities associated with a fundraising project by a local place of worship can be somewhat simplistic compared to the log kept by a multinational company launching an operation. in a new location. As long as the details are accurate and can be verified against supporting documentation and meet all necessary standards for the type of activity involved, the general ledger can be a very useful means of tracking the transactions associated with the endeavor.