The Chart of Accounts page is where you build and maintain the account structure for a company. Select the company at the top; the accounts are shown in five tabs — Assets, Equity, Liabilities, Revenue and Expense.

Structure

The chart has three levels:

• Categories — the five tabs (Assets, Equity, Liabilities, Revenue, Expense). Fixed.

• Groups — sections within a category, such as "Cash And Financial Assets" or "Operating Revenue". Created by the Initialize template.

• Accounts — the rows in each tab. An account is either a summary account (shown with a folder icon; it organises the chart and shows the combined balance of its children) or a postable account (transactions are recorded on it).

Only postable accounts can appear on journal entries. Summary accounts cannot be posted to, and every postable account must sit under a summary parent.

The account list

Each row shows the account code and name, its group, the balance in the company base currency, and — for foreign-currency accounts — the balance in the account's own currency. Click a row to open the account's detail page.

• Initialize — loads the standard chart for a new company (only available while the company has no chart).

• Add New — creates a top-level account in the current tab.

Account details page

Opening an account shows its balance and, depending on its type:

• Transactions (postable accounts) — every journal line on the account, with a link to each journal entry.

• Sub-Accounts (summary accounts) — the child accounts, with an Add Sub Account button.

You can edit the account name, code, Special code, and active status. You cannot change:

• the group or parent after creation,

• the currency after creation,

• the type (summary/postable) once the account has transactions.

An account with a non-zero balance cannot be made inactive, and an account that has ever been posted to cannot be deleted. To retire an account, bring its balance to zero with a journal entry first, then deactivate it.

Account codes

Codes may contain letters, numbers and . - / _ (no spaces; stored in capitals). Codes must be unique within their group. Use a consistent numbering scheme — the standard template uses 1xxx assets, 2xxx liabilities, 3xxx equity, 4xxx revenue, 5xxx expenses.

Foreign-currency accounts

When creating a postable account you can designate it for a specific foreign currency (for example "Bank EUR"). Such accounts keep two balances: the currency balance and the base-currency value. They can only be posted through entries in their own currency (system entries such as year-end closing and revaluation are the exception). See Multi-Currency Accounting.

Special codes

The Special field marks accounts that the system needs to find:

RE — Retained Earnings. Required before a Financial Year can be closed; the year-end close transfers the year's profit or loss here. Exactly one active postable account should carry RE.

Auto-Posting Default Accounts

This panel (visible with COA update permission) tells TrakIT which accounts automatic postings use:

• Default AR Account — debited when an invoice is posted; credited when a receipt is posted.

• Default Income Account — credited for invoice/internal-posting lines whose Finance Type has no account mapping of its own.

• Default AP Account — credited when a bill is posted; debited when a payment is posted.

• Default Expense Account — debited for bill/internal-posting lines with no mapping; also credited by bill adjustments.

• Sales Tax Account — credited with the tax charged on invoices. Required before an invoice carrying tax can post.

• Purchase Tax Account — debited with the tax on bills. If not set, bills post gross to expense (no tax split).

• Withheld Tax Account — debited with tax your customers deduct at source. Required before an invoice carrying a tax deduction can post.

• Discounts & Allowances — debited by invoice adjustments (contra-revenue). Required before an adjustment on a posted invoice can be recorded.

• FX Gain/Loss Account — receives realized exchange differences on settlements and unrealized differences from FX revaluation. Required for any foreign-currency settlement whose rates differ, and for revaluation.

Every default must be a postable, active, base-currency account belonging to the selected company. The lists only offer accounts that qualify.

Finance Types can each be mapped to their own income or expense account by your administrator; the Default Income/Expense accounts are the fallback for unmapped types.

Opening Balances button

The Opening Balances button on this panel opens the Opening Balances page — see that chapter.