The complexity of purchase may lead you to rely on a salesperson. Government bonds are purchased from brokers, banks, and directly from the federal government. Buying from brokers and banks can bring up issues of trust. Whereas you may have a great degree of confidence that government bonds are secure and the tax consequences predictable, you may not trust that the product you are being sold benefits you as much as it benefits the salesperson. Buying treasuries directly from the federal government might also create fear. You may believe that with a salesperson holding your hand, you would find a better product at a better price.

Government notes and bonds are often sold in bundles as managed mutual funds, unmanaged index funds and trusts, or as closed-end mutual funds. Here the issues get more complex. Built-in resentment and regret are inevitable. Fees and commissions must be paid to mutual fund managers, brokers, and closed-end fund managers. These funds rarely do better than notes and bonds bought by an individual and held to maturity. It is easy to regret the fees paid for poorly performed services. Yet some savers feel the need to use professionals to pick bonds for them. They would have free-floating fear and worry if they were to construct a portfolio of bonds on their own. You must ask yourself how you are likely to react.

The general ledger exists for three main purposes: It serves as a summary of every transaction as recorded in the books of original entry; it’s the source document for all financial reports; and it offers an audit trail for tracking individual transactions, should that become necessary.

As the heart of the company’s financial body, the G/L records all transactions that occur within the company’s business activities. It also functions as the center of the firm’s books of original entry. When individual transactions are recorded anywhere within the subsidiary ledgers (subledgers), such as accounts payable or accounts receivable, they feed up to the G/L. (If a business is relatively small, there may not be any subledgers. However, even if you work in a company with such a simplified accounting system, it’s good to know how a more sophisticated system works.)

But the G/L is not a single document. Its content is augmented by receipts, journal entries, invoices—paperwork known as “source documents” that support the transactions recorded within. They all roll together, in fact, to form the company’s accounting system, with the G/L at its heart.

Why is it important for any manager not responsible for financial matters to understand general ledger processing? Well, why is it important for a salesperson to understand the nature, properties, and construction of the item he or she is selling? Financial management is a crucial part of your position. The more you know about what takes place on the accounting side of the fence, the better off you’ll be.