An account in the general ledger that summarizes the total balance of a group of related accounts in a subsidiary ledger. Also called control account.

a general ledger account that controls the accounts in a subsidiary ledger

Typically used in correlation to a subsidiary ledger, this account in a general ledger will summarize all the accounts in that subsidiary ledger (this would be for instance, the totals of any customer account balances, contained in that accounts receivable ledger).

A general ledger account the balance of which (after posting) equals the sum of the balances of the accounts in a related subsidiary ledger.

General ledger account supported by detailed information in a subsidiary ledger