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But “a ledger” is not a directed graph of accounts, is it? There is no ‘from - to’ in a ledger. A ledger simply reorganizes the transactions from chronological order (aka journal entries) into subject/account headings. Not the same, but similar to clicking ‘subject’ column tab on your email client to reorganize your emails from descending date to subject attribute.

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That explanation didn't click with me, either.

But I guess you could model each transaction as an edge, with the direction specifying which account is debited and which credited, and the weight determining the amount.

I don't find that particularly helpful myself, but I put that down to my unfamiliarity with graph data structures and the associated algorithms. Maybe there's something you can do more easily with a graph database, than you can if you have the same info in a table?

Sure. Just like blockchain- or any other decentralized ledger- may be a tremendously disruptive technology for property recording, sale/transfer, and financing in the future (compared to the current archaic system of deeds/titles for real property or UCC financing recording for secured transactions); so to, a graph database may clearly illustrate the point of bookkeeping along with the share of assets creditors and investors are entitled to realtime.

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