The Ledger: Where All Numbers Come From

What Is the Ledger?

The Ledger is a chronological record of every financial event in your trading business:

• Every payout received

• Every challenge purchased

• Every expense paid

• Every refund received

• Every deposit and withdrawal

Think of it as your business's financial diary.

You Don't Edit the Ledger Directly

The Ledger is maintained automatically. When you:

• Mark a payout as "Approved" → Creates a Ledger entry

• Add a challenge with a cost → Creates a Ledger entry

• Record a paid expense → Creates a Ledger entry

You work in the modules (Challenges, Funded Accounts, Transactions). The Ledger is populated behind the scenes.

Types of Ledger Entries

Money In (Credit entries)

Money Out (Debit entries)

Capital Movement (Private Accounts)

How the Dashboard Reads the Ledger

When you view your Dashboard:

1. Dashboard queries the Ledger for the selected date range

2. Sums up all "Money In" entries

3. Sums up all "Money Out" entries

4. Calculates Net Result

5. Displays the totals

Everything flows from Ledger entries.

Why This Design?

Single Source of Truth

All calculations come from one place. There's no way for different pages to show conflicting numbers.

Automatic Consistency

When you mark a payout as Approved, it automatically appears everywhere—Dashboard, reports, summaries. No manual updating needed.

Audit Trail

The Ledger maintains a history. You can trace any number back to its source transactions.

Data Integrity

By controlling how entries are created, the system ensures accuracy. You can't accidentally create inconsistent data.

Following the Money

Want to understand a Dashboard number? Trace it back:

"Why does my Dashboard show $5,000 Money In?"

1. Go to Funded Accounts → Check approved payouts for the period

2. Check Challenges → Any refunds received?

3. Check Transactions → Any income recorded?

4. Sum those up → That's your $5,000

The Ledger is just the aggregation of all these sources.

When Ledger Entries Are Created

Immediately Created:

• Adding a challenge with a cost

• Marking a payout as Approved

• Adding a paid expense or income

• Recording a deposit or withdrawal

Not Created Until Status Changes:

• Unpaid expenses (no entry until marked Paid)

• Requested payouts (no entry until Approved)

This is cash-basis accounting in action—entries are created when money moves.

Correcting Ledger Data

Since you don't edit the Ledger directly, corrections happen at the source:

Payout amount wrong? Edit the payout in Funded Accounts.

Challenge cost incorrect? Edit the challenge in Challenges module.

Expense date wrong? Edit the transaction in Transactions.

Changes to source data update the Ledger automatically.

Deleting and Reversals

When you delete something:

• The associated Ledger entry is removed

• Dashboard totals recalculate

If deleting causes historical data to change, those historical periods will show different numbers. Be careful about deleting old data.

The Ledger and Reports

Reports pull directly from the Ledger:

• Income Report = All "Money In" Ledger entries

• Expense Report = All "Money Out" Ledger entries

• Annual Summary = Aggregation of Ledger by type

Common Questions

Can I see the Ledger? The platform may have a ledger view, or you may only see the source transactions. Either way, the data is accessible.

Why does my Dashboard not match my manual count? You might be including unpaid items or items outside the date range. The Dashboard only counts Ledger entries for paid transactions in the selected period.

Can entries be in the wrong module? Entries are always in the right module because modules create their own entry types. A payout can't accidentally become an expense.

Summary

• The Ledger is the master record of all financial activity

• You work in modules; the Ledger is updated automatically

• Dashboard and reports read from the Ledger

• Corrections happen at the source, not in the Ledger directly

• This ensures consistency across all views

Next: Understanding Currency Handling →