At Puzzle, we’re all about making accounting easier for founders and bookkeepers. And one of the most powerful tools we've introduced to help with that is the concept of subledgers.
So, What Exactly Is a Subledger?
Imagine you’re running your startup, XYZ Corp, selling Widget Software. You’re using Stripe as your payment processor, and you have two subscription plans: monthly and annual. Over just two days, you rack up over 300 transactions. Now, if we dumped all these transactions directly into your General Ledger (GL), things would get messy, fast. This is where subledgers step in to save the day.
Puzzle’s subledger is like a detailed breakdown – a way to group related transactions into manageable, bite-sized chunks. Instead of clogging up your GL with every single sale, Puzzle’s subledgers take all those Stripe transactions, bundle them together by day, and present them as a single, consolidated entry. It’s still all there, but now it’s organized in a way that’s easier to review, manage, and understand.
Why We Built Subledgers at Puzzle
We realized two things:
As startups scale, their transaction volume skyrockets, making it a pain to keep the GL tidy.
Reviewing every transaction one by one? Not exactly a good use of anyone’s time.
Subledgers solve these problems by reducing the noise. Instead of seeing 300 separate entries in your GL, you see just a handful – neatly organized by the day, by source, or even by type of transaction. This means less clutter, more clarity, and a far easier way to spot trends, anomalies, or anything else you need to keep an eye on.
Why Should You Care About Subledgers?
Real-Time Insights: Subledgers capture every transaction as it happens, giving you up-to-the-minute clarity to confidently run your business.
Efficiency & Control: They let your accountant or finance team review, consolidate, and post transactions in bulk, streamlining the end-of-month process. It’s like giving them the power to batch process financial data, making their lives (and yours) more manageable.
The Three States of Subledgers: A Quick Overview
We’ve designed subledgers with three distinct “states” to help keep things organized:
Compiling: This is when Puzzle is actively gathering transactions throughout the day. It's like the subledger is taking notes.
Compiled: The day is done, and we’ve captured all your transactions, but they haven’t yet been posted to the GL. Think of this as a draft stage.
Posted: This is when you’ve given everything the green light, and the subledger is officially part of your GL.
What’s Next for Subledgers?
Right now, subledgers are in open beta. For the time being they only support revenue (Stripe/ Stripe Invoices/ Manual), and can only be organized by day. But in the future, you’ll be able to configure this to suit your needs - whether that’s monthly, weekly, or some other timeframe.
At Puzzle, we eventually hope to offer two main types of subledgers:
Source Data Subledgers: These group transactions by source (e.g., all your Stripe transactions for a given day).
Functional Subledgers: These pull together similar activities, like revenue accruals, so you can see all your subscription revenue in one place.
The Bottom Line
Subledgers are all about giving you more control, transparency, and ease when managing your financial data. They help keep your General Ledger lean, mean, and easy to navigate – making your financial management less about sifting through endless data and more about making informed decisions.