What is a Control Account? Definition Meaning Example

As you can see, control accounts drastically clean up the ledger and make it easier for accountants and bookkeepers to use. The general ledger can have hundreds of accounts from asset and liability accounts to income and expense accounts. More over, each account type can have hundreds of smaller accounts called subsidiary accounts. If every single account was included in the general ledger, it would be very large, unorganized, and difficult to use. That is why control accounts are used to summary data from large numbers of related accounts. In accounting, the controlling account (also known as an adjustment or control account[1]) is an account in the general ledger for which a corresponding subsidiary ledger has been created.

The control account keeps the general ledger free of details, but still has the correct balance for preparing the company’s financial statements. Accounting software will automatically categorize data and create control accounts and subledgers, allowing for simple data segmenting, as well as accurate accounting practices. They show the balance of transactions detailed in the corresponding subsidiary account.

Terms Similar to Control Account

A general ledger account containing the correct total amount without containing the details. For example, Accounts Receivable could be a control Control Account Definition account in the general ledger. Each day the total of the day’s credit sales and the day’s collections are posted to this account.

The details of a control account will be found in a corresponding subsidiary ledger. The control account keeps the general ledger clean of details, but contains the correct balances used for preparing a company’s financial statements. In common use, control accounts refer to those that would, under ideal circumstances, balance to zero.

British Dictionary definitions for control account

The subsidiary ledger allows for tracking transactions within the controlling account in more detail. Individual transactions are posted both to the controlling account and the corresponding subsidiary ledger, and the totals for both are compared when preparing a trial balance to ensure accuracy. Control accounts are an important component of double-entry accounting and make up the foundation of the general ledger.

If the totals do not agree, then a reconciliation of the control accounts must be made. Accounting software posts transactions to the control accounts in either summary or detail modes. The benefit of posting in detail is that it is easier to reconcile the subsidiary ledgers to these accounts. This way the ledger only has one accounts receivable account instead of hundreds. If more information is needed for a specific customer, the subsidiary accounts and records can always be reviewed.

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The details of those transactions live in the subledger and the balance is reported to the control account. The control account for accounts receivable will only show the total amount that is owed to the company at a point in time without all the details of each customer’s transaction. The definition of a control account is a general ledger account that summarizes (or controls) a subsidiary ledger group of detail accounts. The benefit of not posting all of the detail entries to these accounts is that it keeps the general ledger from becoming too cluttered to manage.

With accounts receivable, as invoices go out the control account is debited, which increases the balance. And as payments come in, the control account is credited, decreasing https://kelleysbookkeeping.com/how-to-calculate-purchase-price-variance-ppv-and/ the balance. Control accounts are most commonly used to summarize accounts payable and accounts receivable as these tend to contain a lot of transactions.

Low dollar value control accounts or Level of Effort (LOE) accounts may be candidates for exclusion. However, if Taylor or anyone else wants to find out the amount that a specific customer still owes for their credit purchases, or when they bought the item, that won’t be shown in the control account. Instead, further information will be stored in the Accounts Receivable subsidiary ledger.

They serve as a summary report of the total balances for each subledger, and allow for a streamlined analysis of a company’s balance sheet without all of the clunky details contained in each subledger. The main use of a control account is to help identify errors that appear in the subsidiary ledgers. But they also give a business other advantages, such as permitting a single trial balance to be extracted from the general ledger. If the trial balance does not actually balance, only the accounts whose control account does not reconcile need to be checked for errors.

For example, an inventory control account will hold the balance amount between a stock account updated by stock transactions on the balance sheet and the value of stock on hand multiplied by its unit cost. Reasons for discrepancies include stock losses and gains yet to be „journaled” and the control account measures the differences and provides financial visibility and control of the value of those. If the discrepancy is significant, then actions such as stock counts can be triggered in order to validate stock and correct the balance sheet and clear the control account. With the double-entry accounting system, accounts receivable, and accounts payable are the common types of control accounts. Smaller companies may be able to rely on control accounts if  they remain balanced using double-entry accounting.

• However, if Taylor or anyone else wants to find out the amount that a specific customer still owes for their credit purchases, or when they bought the item, that won’t be shown in the control account.
• And as payments come in, the control account is credited, decreasing the balance.
• Low dollar value control accounts or Level of Effort (LOE) accounts may be candidates for exclusion.
• If the trial balance does not actually balance, only the accounts whose control account does not reconcile need to be checked for errors.