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Because the ledger records outcomes and the explanations live elsewhere. An accrual traces to a journal, the journal to a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet to a conversation. Each step is a question to somebody who may not remember.
Most of the time is not arithmetic. It is establishing what happened.
Postings trace back to the transaction and, where relevant, to the delivered work that caused them — the project phase, the approved time, the accepted quote. The chain is on one platform rather than across three.
The audit trail records every change with its previous value and its actor, and administrators cannot edit it.
It does not prepare or file statutory accounts, and it makes no judgement on treatment. It records thoroughly and immutably; the accounting is yours.
And it will not correct a bad coding structure. It will apply yours with complete consistency, which is a mixed blessing.
Trial balance, general ledger, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow all read the same transactions, so a discrepancy is a query rather than an investigation.
Recurring journals are records with a schedule, not something to remember, and each run is logged.
No. Not anyone — that is what makes it usable as evidence.
Yes, to the project, the approved time or the accepted quote where one exists.
No. It produces the figures and holds the evidence.
Half an hour on your own numbers is usually enough to say whether Books is the right place to start.