User: Compare and contrast the ledger and journal. Do you feel we need both the journal and the ledger? Why/why not?

Weegy: The previous chapter showed how transactions caused financial statement amounts to change. "Before" and "after" examples were used to develop the illustrations. [ Imagine if a real business tried to keep up with its affairs this way! Perhaps a giant chalkboard could be set up in the accounting department. As transactions occurred, they would be communicated to the department and the chalkboard would be updated. Chaos would quickly rule. Even if the business could manage to figure out what its financial statements were supposed to contain, it probably could not systematically describe the transactions that produced those results. Obviously, a system is needed. It is imperative that a business develop a reliable accounting system to capture and summarize its voluminous transaction data. The system must be sufficient to fuel the preparation of the financial statements, and be capable of maintaining retrievable documentation for each and every transaction. In other words, some transaction logging process must be in place. In general terms, an accounting system is a system where transactions and events are reliably processed and summarized into useful financial statements and reports. Whether this system is manual or automated, the heart of the system will contain the basic processing tools: accounts, debits and credits, journals, and the general ledger. This chapter will provide insight into these tools and the general structure of a typical accounting system. ACCOUNTS ]
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