

There is no uniformity so you can develop your own numbering system when using a manual bookkeeping method.
#Beancounter chart of accounts software
I would do that anyway even with a numbering system available.Īlso, the Chart of Accounts numbering systems are different from software to software. Without numbering to help identify the type of account, you can get more creative with the name of the account by adding extra words i.e. Numbers are useful when an account has the same name under Income as one under Expenses like “Freight”.īut numbers are optional, and some bookkeeping programs do not even have numbers, like Wave Accounting and some versions of QuickBooks. The same account name can be used twice if they are mapped to a different group, but the same number cannot be used twice. In the example standard chart of accounts up above, the Assets are all in the 1000’s, Liabilities in the 2000’s, Equity in the 3000’s, Income in the 4000’s and Expenses in the 6000’s (Cost of Goods Sold can be entered to the 5000’s).

Numbering your chart of accounts will help you quickly recognize what type of account you are looking at especially when you become familiar with the numbering system. The Chart of Accounts is displayed in five account groups:Įach account group can have many accounts. Used accounts that are no longer required should only be archived, not deleted. Whether you use a tailored list or a standard list you will always be able to adapt the list to suit your business by adding new accounts into your chart or deleting accounts that you do not want so as long as they haven’t already been used with financial transactions. Standard Accounts Listīut some software programs only provide one standard Chart of Accounts. You will scroll through the industry lists they offer and select the one that suits your business best, and then the program will initiate that list of accounts. Most programs come with pre-prepared lists of accounts and will step you through a process enabling you to choose an accounts list based on an industry. One of the first actions required when setting up new bookkeeping software is to create a Chart of Accounts list.

A short description of each account (optional).Like a table of contents, which has a list of topics and the page numbers they are on, the Chart of Accounts has a list of all accounts with:
