> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.qlero.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is the ledger view for?

> The accounting-style table behind your statements, and what each column holds.

The ledger is your statements as a bookkeeper would lay them out: one row per record, one line of columns following the money from the balance you started with to the balance you ended with.

Your payee is the top row. Expand it for your accounts, expand an account for its contracts. Each level shows only what belongs to it, so the detail appears as you open rows rather than all at once.

The columns run in the order the money moves:

| Column    | What it holds                                     |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Opening   | The balance carried in from the previous period   |
| Payments  | What was paid out to you                          |
| Costs     | Costs charged against a contract                  |
| Earnings  | Royalties calculated for a contract               |
| Other     | Manual entries and reserves                       |
| Transfers | The movement up from contract to account to payee |
| Closing   | The balance at the end                            |

Amounts are colour-coded: green where they add to a balance, red where they take away, grey for transfers, which move money rather than change it.

Read it when a statement leaves you asking where a figure came from. The summary tells you what you're owed; the ledger shows the arithmetic across every contract at once, including the periods either side if you widen the **Period** filter.

## Next steps

* See how money moves across the table in [What do the Transfers columns mean?](/artists/statements/ledger-transfers).
* See why a cell is empty in [Why do some rows show a dash or italics?](/artists/statements/ledger-dashes-and-italics).