Posting Reference or Post Ref is a column in an accounting General Journal and General Ledger. It serves as a check and balance to ensure each transaction has been posted to the appropriate account. It is used in the process of posting transactions from the general journal to the general ledger.
To understand the difference between a Journal and a Ledger, watch this video:
In the General Journal, when an account has been posted to an individual account, the number assigned to that account is listed in the Post Ref column to indicate that entry has been posted. In the General Ledger, for the corresponding transaction, the page number of the General Journal is entered to signify the page where the transaction can be found.
How Accounts are Numbered in Accounting
When account numbers are assigned in the Chart of Accounts, the numbers assigned are based on the account type. The assigned number becomes the first number of the account. For example, Cash, an asset, is assigned an account number beginning with the number one [100, 1000, 10100]. Accounts Payable, a liability, is assigned an account number beginning with the number two [200, 2000, 24000].
For businesses without Cost of Goods Sold or Cost of Merchandise Sold, the numbers are assigned based on this structure:
| Assets | 1 |
| Liabilities | 2 |
| Equity | 3 |
| Revenue | 4 |
| Expenses | 5 |
For businesses with Cost of Goods Sold or Cost of Merchandise Sold, the numbers are assigned based on this structure:
| Assets | 1 |
| Liabilities | 2 |
| Equity | 3 |
| Revenue | 4 |
| COGS/COMS | 5 |
| Expenses | 6 |
For step-by-step guidance on how to post journal entries to accounts, check out this article:
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