> Nominal_and_departments / Chart of Accounts overview

The Chart of Accounts (COA)

Using the Chart of Accounts helps to organise your business and create a clear structure for where your money sits.

The Chart of Accounts is the structure your nominal codes sit within and it defines which nominal codes appear each area of your management reports. You can change the Chart of Accounts to more accurately reflect how your business is set up and have financial reports that are more closely linked to your business.

If you want to edit individual nominal codes, please refer to Nominal account records.

The Chart of Accounts window

To access this:

Company > Chart of Accounts.

The window lists all your existing layouts. When you first create a company, unless you choose not to use a predefined business type, a standard COA called Default Layout of Accounts is created.

The following options are available within the Chart of Accounts window:

Add	Creates a new layout to produce different details in your financial reports.
Edit	Amends the selected layout.
Delete	Deletes the selected layout.
Current	Makes the selected layout the default. The chosen layout appears in the Current box at the bottom of the window.
Copy	Copies the selected layout.

The Edit Chart of Accounts window

To edit a Chart of Accounts, from the Chart of Accounts window, select the Chart of Accounts you want to edit > Edit.

The following information is available within the Edit Chart of Accounts window:

Title	The name of the layout.
Profit & Loss	By default this contains the following nominal areas: Sales Purchases Direct Expenses Overheads Taxation
Balance Sheet	By default this contains the following nominal areas: Fixed Assets Current Assets Current Liabilities Long Term Liabilities Capital & Reserves
Category account	Contains the sub-sections of each nominal area. To view the category account details, select the Profit & Loss or Balance sheet nominal area.
Preview	Displays an example of the management report so you can see how the changes you're making affect your reports.
Print	Prints the Chart of Accounts.
To Excel	Sends the Chart of Accounts to an Excel spreadsheet.
Check	Checks the Chart of Accounts for errors. For more information about any errors, refer to Chart of accounts errors.
Save	Saves any changes you have made.
Close	Exits the Edit Chart of Accounts window.

To edit a Chart of Accounts

Company > Chart of Accounts.
Select the Chart of Accounts you want to amend > Edit.
From the Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet tab select the area you want to amend, for example Sales.
Amend the nominal code range information as follows > Save:

To add a nominal code range, click a blank line then enter the name of the category and the low and high nominal code ranges.

Note: The Floating Nominal Accounts areas within the Current Assets and Current Liabilities sections are reserved for nominal codes that can be an asset or a liability, depending on the balance, for example, bank accounts.
To insert a line into the nominal code ranges, place your cursor where you want to insert the line > F7.
To delete a line from the nominal code range, click the name > F8.
To amend a nominal code range, select the category you want to edit > amend the low or high range to those nominal codes you want to include.

Note: Removing nominal codes from your Chart of Accounts excludes them from your management reports but does not delete them from the Nominal Ledger. The changes you make update in the Preview window to the right of the range information.

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