Tally glossary

49 words you meet on TallyPrime's screens and in accounts offices, each explained in a sentence.

Accounting invoice: A mode of the sales or purchase voucher that uses ledgers only, without stock items. Used for services.
Agst Ref: A bill-wise reference type meaning the amount is against an existing bill of the party.
Alteration: Opening an existing master or voucher to change it.
Bill-wise details: Tracking a party's balance bill by bill, so that each invoice shows as paid or pending.
Books beginning from: The date from which vouchers are entered in a company.
Chart of Accounts: The list of all groups and ledgers of a company.
Company: One set of books in Tally, for one business.
Company Features (F11): The screen where accounting, inventory and tax features are switched on or off.
Configuration (F12): Settings for the screen or report you are on.
Contra: A voucher for transfers between cash and bank accounts of the business.
Cost centre: A unit, such as a branch or project, to which income and expenses can be allotted for separate reporting.
Credit Note: A voucher for sales returns or other reductions in what a customer owes.
Data path: The folder on the computer where company data is stored.
Day Book: The list of all vouchers of a day or period.
Debit Note: A voucher for purchase returns or other reductions in what is owed to a supplier.
Drill down: Pressing Enter on a line of a report to see the detail behind it.
Duties & Taxes: The group under which tax ledgers such as CGST, SGST and IGST are created.
Edit log: A record kept by TallyPrime of who created or altered a voucher or master and when.
Gateway of Tally: The home menu of TallyPrime.
Godown: A location where stock is kept.
Go To (Alt+G): The feature for jumping to any report or creation screen from anywhere.
Group: A category under which ledgers are placed; it decides where they appear in the final statements.
GSTIN: The 15 character GST registration number of a business.
HSN code: The code that classifies goods for GST. Services use SAC codes.
Input tax: GST paid on purchases, available as credit against tax on sales.
Item invoice: A mode of the sales or purchase voucher that records stock items with quantity and rate.
Journal: A voucher for adjustments that do not involve cash or bank.
Ledger: An account in Tally: a party, a bank, an expense, an income, an asset or a liability.
Master: Standing information set up once: company, groups, ledgers, stock items, units.
Narration: The line of explanation typed at the foot of a voucher.
New Ref: A bill-wise reference type that creates a new bill for the party.
On Account: A bill-wise reference for an amount not matched to any bill yet.
Optional voucher: A voucher saved without affecting the accounts until it is made regular.
Output tax: GST charged on sales, payable to the government after deducting input tax.
Outstandings: Reports of bills receivable and payable, by party and age.
Party: A customer or supplier.
Post-dated voucher: A voucher dated in the future, which takes effect on that date.
Predefined groups: The 28 groups that exist in every Tally company from the start.
Primary group: A top-level group, such as Current Assets or Indirect Expenses.
Reconciliation: Matching the bank ledger with the bank statement by recording the bank date of each entry.
Stock group: A category of stock items.
Stock item: A product that is bought, sold or held in stock.
Stock Summary: The report of closing stock by quantity and value.
Sundry Creditors: The group for suppliers to whom money is owed.
Sundry Debtors: The group for customers who owe money.
Unit: What a stock item is measured in: numbers, kilograms, boxes.
Voucher: The record of one transaction in Tally.
Voucher mode: The layout in which a voucher is entered, changed with Ctrl+H.
Voucher type: The kind of voucher: Contra, Payment, Receipt, Journal, Sales, Purchase and so on.

Tally's words and accounting's words

Tally mostly uses the ordinary vocabulary of accounting, with a few terms of its own. A ledger in Tally is what textbooks call an account; the textbook "ledger" is the whole book of accounts. A voucher in a textbook is the paper supporting an entry; in Tally it is the entry itself. A master is anything set up once and used many times. And group has a precise meaning that textbooks express more loosely as "classification of accounts".

Knowing these differences helps in two directions. It lets you connect what you studied to what you see on the screen, and it lets you explain yourself to an accountant who may use the textbook word. When someone says "open the ledger of Sharma Traders", they mean Ledger Vouchers for that party; when they say "pass an entry", they mean record a voucher.

Words about references

The four bill-wise terms (New Ref, Agst Ref, Advance and On Account) cause the most confusion for beginners, because they have no counterpart in school accountancy. They exist so that Tally can tell which invoice a payment settles. A purchase or sale on credit creates a New Ref. A later payment or receipt is Agst Ref, against that bill. Money that comes before any bill is an Advance. Money that cannot yet be matched is On Account, to be sorted out later. The lessons on payments and receipts show them in use.

Where to go from a word

Most terms here have a lesson: groups and ledgers, voucher types, stock items, GST set-up, bank reconciliation and reports. For the accounting terms behind them, see the glossary on learn.shareyourgroup.com/accountancy.

Lessons

An independent learning site. Tally and TallyPrime are trademarks of Tally Solutions Private Limited. This site is not connected with, approved by or paid by Tally Solutions, and uses none of its logos, screens or course material. Keys and menu paths were checked against Tally's own help site on 12 November 2026; the software changes with each release, so if your screen differs, follow Tally's help (press Ctrl+F1). Tax treatment in the examples is for learning only: ask your accountant.