Accounts payable is the money your business owes to suppliers, vendors, contractors, or other creditors for goods and services you have received but have not yet paid for.

Accounts receivable is the money customers or clients owe your business for products sold or services completed but not yet paid for. It represents expected future cash inflows.

The general ledger is the central record of your business’s financial activity. It organizes transactions into accounts such as sales, rent, office supplies, bank accounts, loans, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.

A balance sheet is a financial statement that shows what your business owns, what it owes, and the owner’s or shareholders’ interest in the business at a specific point in time.

An income statement, often called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L, summarizes revenue, expenses, and net income or loss over a period such as a month, quarter, or year.

A cash flow statement shows how cash entered and left the business over a period. It helps explain why the cash balance changed, even when profit appears stable.

Depreciation is an accounting method that allocates the cost of a long-term tangible asset over the period it is expected to be used. This differs from recording the full cost as an immediate operating expense.

Accruals are revenues earned or expenses incurred during a period that have not yet been recorded, invoiced, paid, or received. They help match financial activity to the period in which it happened.

Reconciliation is the process of comparing your internal bookkeeping records against an external source, such as a bank statement, credit-card statement, or payment-platform report, to confirm that the balances and transactions agree.

An audit trail is the documented history of a financial transaction. It connects an entry in your books to its supporting records, such as an invoice, receipt, bank transaction, approval, or contract.