The general ledger is considered the most important ledger, in that balances of accounts contained in this ledger will be used to draw up the trial balance, and subsequently the financial reports. Most businesses will also maintain subsidiary ledgers or files for accounts receivable and accounts payable. The reason for this is that the general ledger contains one account for accounts receivable (control account) and one account for accounts payable (control account). But the business will usually have multiple people who owe money to the business, and multiple suppliers to whom the business owes money.

1. "Subsidiary ledgers are kept outside of the general ledger, so they just create more work and more opportunities for things to go wrong." Do you agree or disagree with this statement?And, do you think all businesses, no matter what size, should use subsidiary ledgers?Why?