Problem Solving Survival Guide to accompany Financial Accounting, 8th Edition

SUMMARY OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the nature and purpose of a subsidiary ledger. A subsidiary ledger is a group of accounts with a common characteristic. It facilitates the recording process by freeing the general ledger from details of individual balances.
2. Explain how special journals are used in journalizing. Companies use special journals to group similar types of transactions. In a special journal, generally only one line is used to record a complete transaction.
3. Indicate how a columnar journal is posted. In posting a multi-column journal:
   • (a) Companies post all column totals except for the Other Accounts column once at the end of the month to the account title specified in the column heading.
   • (b) Companies do not post the total of the Other Accounts column. Instead, the individual amounts comprising the total are posted separately to the general ledger accounts specified in the Account Credited (Debited) column.
   • (c) The individual amounts in a column posted in total to a control account are posted daily to the subsidiary ledger accounts specified in the Account Credited (Debited) column.