Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is the list of every account the business keeps its books in: bank accounts and cash, what customers owe, what the business owes, sales, purchases and each kind of expense. Each account has a type, and the type decides whether the account belongs on the balance sheet or on the profit and loss.

Use this screen to look up an account, to add the accounts your business needs (for example Rent or Utilities), to group accounts under a parent, and to retire accounts you no longer use.

Menu	Books > Chart of accounts
Permission	View the chart of accounts (to see the list); Manage the chart of accounts (to add, change and delete accounts)
Feature	Accounting

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

The account list

Open Books > Chart of accounts. Each row shows:

• the account number, when it has one;
• the account name, with a small arrow icon when the account is a subaccount of another;
• the account type, such as Expense or Asset;
• a System badge with a lock for the protected system accounts, and an Inactive badge for accounts that are no longer offered in new transactions;
• an Edit button.

The list is ordered by type, then by number, then by name. When there are more accounts than fit on one page, use the page links at the bottom.

When your site offers the layout buttons above the list, you can also show the chart as a grid with the columns Number, Account, Type, Status and Actions.

Find an account

The bar at the top of the list has a search box and a type drop-down.

• Search box: type part of an account's name or number, such as rent or 61, and press Enter.
• Type drop-down: pick a type to show only accounts of that type, or All types to show every account. The list updates as soon as you pick, and the matching type: term appears in the search box.

You can also type filter terms in the search box. Click the question-mark button next to the search box to see them all in the Available filters dialog.

Filter	Example	What it shows
Name or number (the default)	rent	Accounts whose name or number contains the text. Text without a term name searches here.
Type	type:expense	Accounts of one type: asset, liability, equity, income, cost-of-goods-sold, expense, other-income or other-expense.
Status	status:inactive	Active (status:active) or inactive (status:inactive) accounts.
System	system:true	The protected system accounts (system:true), or the accounts the business added (system:false).
Sort	sort:number	The order of the list: type (the default), number or name.

Combine terms with spaces. For example, type:expense status:inactive shows the expense accounts that are inactive. When nothing matches, the list says Nothing here! No accounts match the filter. See Searching and filtering lists for how the search box works on every list.

Add an account

1. Open Books > Chart of accounts and click Add account.
2. Enter a Name and pick a Type. A new account starts as an Expense account; change the type if it is something else.
3. Fill in the other fields you need, described in the table below.
4. Click Save.

The message The account ... was created. appears, and you are back on the list. Click Cancel to leave without saving.

Account fields

Field	What it does
Name	The account's name, for example Rent. Required, at most 100 characters. Two accounts of the same type cannot have the same name (capital letters don't make a difference). Accounts of different types can share a name.
Number	An optional account number, for example 6100. Up to 20 letters, digits, dots and dashes, starting with a letter or a digit. Each number can be used by only one account.
Type	What kind of account it is. See Account types. Required.
Subaccount of	Pick a parent account to make this account a subaccount of it, or leave None (top-level account). The list of parents is grouped by type. A subaccount rolls up into its parent on reports and must have the same type as its parent.
Description	A note about what the account is for.
The amount is the same every period	Tick this for a fixed expense such as rent. It shows the Fixed amount field.
Fixed amount	The usual amount of the fixed expense, in dollars. The amount is offered when the expense is entered. It cannot be negative. If you untick The amount is the same every period, the amount is removed when you save.
Active	Ticked for a new account. Untick it to make the account inactive: an inactive account keeps its history but is not offered in new transactions.

Account types

The type decides which report the account appears on.

Type	Use it for	Report
Asset	What the business owns: bank accounts, cash, money customers owe, inventory, equipment.	Balance sheet
Liability	What the business owes: bills to pay, credit cards, sales tax and payroll taxes collected, loans.	Balance sheet
Equity	The owners' stake: capital, draws, retained earnings.	Balance sheet
Income	Sales, by sales category.	Profit and loss
Cost of goods sold	Purchases of goods the business resells.	Profit and loss
Expense	Day-to-day operating expenses such as rent, wages and utilities.	Profit and loss
Other income	Income outside normal operations, such as a gain on selling equipment.	Profit and loss
Other expense	Expenses outside normal operations, such as a loss on selling equipment.	Profit and loss

Change an account

1. On the list, click the account's name or its Edit button.
2. Change the fields you need.
3. Click Save. The message The account ... was saved. appears.

Opening an account needs the Manage the chart of accounts permission. With only View the chart of accounts, you can see and search the list but not open or change an account.

Make an account inactive

When the business stops using an account, make it inactive instead of deleting it. Its history stays, and it is no longer offered in new transactions.

1. Open the account.
2. Untick Active.
3. Click Save.

The account now shows the Inactive badge on the list. To use it again, tick Active and save. To list all inactive accounts, search for status:inactive.

Delete an account

You can delete an account the business added, as long as it has no subaccounts.

1. Open the account.
2. Click Delete.
3. Confirm in the Delete account dialog. Deleting cannot be undone.

The message The account was deleted. appears. The Delete button is not shown for system accounts or for accounts that have subaccounts. To remove a parent account, first move its subaccounts to another parent, or make the account inactive instead.

System accounts

Every business has a set of protected system accounts. They are created automatically when Accounting is turned on, and they are reserved for Al-Mohaseb's own postings, such as payroll, depreciation and asset sales, so they are always there. They show a System badge with a lock on the list, and their editor says This is a system account.

You can rename a system account, give it a different number, describe it, put it under a parent of the same type, and set a fixed amount. You cannot change its type, make it inactive or delete it.

Number	Name	Type
1200	Accounts Receivable	Asset
1300	Undeposited Funds	Asset
1700	Fixed Assets	Asset
1790	Accumulated Depreciation	Asset
2000	Accounts Payable	Liability
2200	Sales Tax Payable	Liability
2300	Payroll Liabilities	Liability
2400	Amounts Collected for Others	Liability
3000	Opening Balance Equity	Equity
3900	Retained Earnings	Equity
4000	Sales	Income
5000	Purchases	Cost of goods sold
6100	Gross Wages	Expense
6110	Payroll Taxes	Expense
6120	Contractor	Expense
6200	Depreciation Expenses	Expense
6300	Sales Tax	Expense
7000	Profit From Asset Sale	Other income
8000	Loss From Asset Sale	Other expense

If the business already had an account with one of these numbers when the system accounts were added, the system account was created without a number. If it already had an account of the same type with the same name, the system account's name ends in (system). You can rename it.

Messages you might see

Message	What to do
The name is required.	Enter a name.
The name can have at most 100 characters.	Shorten the name.
Another account of this type has this name.	Choose a different name, or search for the existing account and use it.
The number can have letters, digits, dots and dashes, at most 20 characters.	Remove spaces and other characters, and start the number with a letter or a digit.
Another account has this number.	Choose a number no other account uses. Search for the number to find the account that has it.
A subaccount must have the type of its parent.	Pick a parent of the same type, or change the account's type.
An account cannot be a subaccount of itself or of its own subaccounts.	Pick a parent that is not this account and not one of the accounts under it.
The parent account does not exist.	The parent was deleted while you were editing. Pick another parent.
The fixed amount cannot be negative.	Enter zero or a positive amount.
System accounts and accounts with subaccounts cannot be deleted. Make the account inactive instead.	Untick Active instead. A system account cannot be made inactive either; rename it if you don't need it under its current name.

Troubleshooting

I can't see Books > Chart of accounts. You need the View the chart of accounts permission, and the Accounting feature must be on. Ask your administrator. See Roles and permissions.

There is no Add account button, or Edit says I am not allowed. Adding and changing accounts needs the Manage the chart of accounts permission. Ask your administrator.

The Type and Active fields are greyed out. The account is a system account. Its type is fixed and it always stays active.

Related pages

• Business profile
• Searching and filtering lists
• Glossary