The General Ledger report is the cornerstone of your accounting reporting in Aplos. It serves as the master record for every financial transaction within your organization, providing a comprehensive, chronological list of all financial activity organized by account.

Your Financial Compass

If you’ve ever delved into common Aplos reports like the Balance Sheet or Income Statement, you’ve likely already interacted with the General Ledger. Drilling down on an amount in those reports automatically takes you to the General Ledger, pre-filtered with the relevant information. This makes it an essential tool for pinpointing specific transactions and understanding the details behind your summary reports.

Accessing and Filtering the Report

To access the General Ledger, simply navigate to the "Reports" tab and select "General Ledger" from the "Other" section. The real power of this report lies in its robust filtering capabilities.

You can customize your view by:

• Date Range: Select from pre-set options or create a custom date range to focus on a specific period.
• Contacts: Filter transactions by a particular contact.
• Accounts, Funds, or Tags: Drill down on specific financial information tied to an account, fund, or tag.
• Segments: If you use Aplos’s add-on segments feature, you can also filter by those segments.

Additionally, you can filter the report based on whether you want to see your transactions on an accrual or cash basis.

Understanding the Report Layout

The report is organized numerically by your Chart of Accounts, starting with assets, then liabilities, equity, funds, income, and expenses. Within each account section, you'll see a detailed list of every transaction that meets your filtering criteria.

The default columns provide key information, including:

• Date: The date the transaction occurred.
• Transaction Number and Type: A unique identifier and the type of transaction (e.g., invoice, journal entry).
• Contact and Memo: Details about the other party involved and any notes.
• Fund: The fund associated with the transaction.
• Debit and Credit: if the amount was a debit or credit to the account
• Amount and Balance: The total amount of the transaction and the running balance for that account.

Customizing Your View

Aplos gives you full control over how you view this data. Use the "Customize" option in the top right corner to tailor the report to your needs. 

 

While the "Name," "Amount," and "Balance" columns are permanent, you can easily remove or reorganize other fields.

You can also add a variety of additional columns, such as:

• AP/AR Paid: See the status of open or closed for accounts payable/receivable transactions
• Check number
• Cleared: See if this transactions has been reconciled via the bank reconciliation tool
  • this will show with either an "n" or a "y"
• Journal Entry ID
• Invoice date: see the invoice date created for any accounts payable/receivable transactions
• Notes
• Reference number
• Tags: Any Tag layers you have enabled (up to 5)

You can also sort these columns by simply dragging and dropping them into your desired order.

Formatting and Presentation

Beyond the columns, you can adjust the formatting to improve readability:

• Hide Cents: Round amounts to the nearest dollar.
• Divide by 1,000: Simplify large numbers by removing the trailing zeros.
• Display Amounts: Choose how negative numbers appear—with a negative sign or in parentheses, and in black or red text—to make it easier to differentiate between positive and negative values.

Saving, Exporting, and Sharing

If you frequently use the same filters and customizations, you can save your report (1) to the "Saved Reports" section. This eliminates the need to manually re-apply your preferences each time.

You can also easily export (2) the report as a PDF, CSV, or Excel file, or share (3) it directly with others via email. You even have the option to add an email body to your message.

Conclusion

The General Ledger Report is an incredibly powerful tool for anyone looking to pull comprehensive financial data across multiple accounts. Its extensive filtering and customization options allow you to create a personalized report that provides exactly the information you need, ensuring clarity and accuracy in your financial management.