Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is the most important part of the General Ledger. It has to be set up properly. For every account, the system's chart stores the following for each account: Description, Type, Tax Code, Rebate Code, Responsibility Level, Retired Flag, and Memo. Each will be described in this section. As well, an example of a chart that effectively uses our setup is included at the end. Another section that is important to the chart is the Maintenance screen. Of course, the first stop is at the Chart of Accounts form.

The chart form contains most of the information you need for the accounts other than the transactions. This section of help will first go through what the buttons do, then it will describe how the fields are used.

The New button opens the Add New Account screen and applies the current filter. Once on that screen, finish the new account number and click the Add button. All parts must exist before entering a new account. For example, if in the picture below, the 311 was not a valid subdepartment or panel, then you must do the following:

Note: New accounts may not appear immediately on trial balances. Clicking the Load Defaults button when selecting the report parameters will add new parts and accounts.

Click this button after entering the desired filter. Only accounts that match the filter will show.

The account codes are broken up into parts. While each part has its own description, a single account is usually more than the sum of its parts. In other words, there is a need to have a concise description for each account. This is especially useful when general parts are used. It is this description that shows up on forms and reports throughout the system, so you won't have to guess which part's description should be used.

In the example at the end of this section, the last part for all of the accounts is always 000. The description for that part is 'General' and cannot be put onto reports as a description of the accounts. You wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Since the parts are used more than once, their descriptions are useless for describing individual accounts. Another description is needed for each account. This description is stored in the Chart itself.

Each account is assigned an account type. This is used on reports to split accounts up into sections like all of the revenues together then all of the expenses together. You do not need to set up separate departments -- an administration department for revenues and another for expenses. You should only have one department or function.

Changing an account type may cause it to be added to or removed from the budget upon next repopulation. As well, once an account is in use, you are limited to what types you can choose. If it was an asset, it must remain an asset. If it was a liability, it must remain a liability. If it was an equity, it must remain an equity. If it was a revenue, it must remain a revenue. If it was an expense, it must remain an expense.

Each account gets a default Tax Code and a default Rebate Code. When they are used in the Accounts Payable and the Accounts Receivable, these codes will appear on bills and invoices when the account is selected. They can be changed on the bill or invoice to suit the particular circumstance, but the next time the account is pulled up, the default Tax Code and Rebate code will appear again.

Responsibility levels are designed to hide accounts on some reports. For example, the School Report only shows accounts of interest to the Principal while the Department Report will only show accounts the Department Head will want to see. These same reports, when printed by users with higher access will contain all accounts. This access level is called the responsibility level. Each account has a responsibility level assigned to it.

Deleting accounts that are in use is not permitted. They are retired instead. When retired, they will not show up in any lists and cannot be entered by the end user. If they were specified as a special account in the Setup Wizard before they were retired, then they may still be used.

If there is any extra information you wish to store about an account, you can enter a memo. These notes can be entered or edited on the Maintenance screen. This is not the same memo that is available by clicking the Memo button on the Budget.

In an effort to create an example that is applicable to both municipalities and school boards, only general accounts common to both have been used. The parts of the account structure is different for municipalities and school boards. The chart below shows how each use the different parts.

Part	Municipal	School Board
Part 1	Fund	Panel
Part 2	Department	Function
Part 3	Sub-Department	Location
Part 4	Activity	Classification
Part 5	Tag/Object	Item

Funds
1 General
2 Separate Fund

Department
01 Administration
02 Non-departmental

Sub-Department
001 Cash and Bank
005 Accounts Receivable
009 Other Current Assets
010 Equipment
011 Long Term Receivables
020 Accounts Payable
024 CPP Full-time Payable
025 Loans

Activity
000 General
001 Cash
002 Bank

Tag
000 General

This breakdown shows that only one department is needed for Administration. Because the type is stored with each individual account, there is no longer a need to have one Administration department for revenues and another for expenses. Essentially, having the type associated with the account is just like having an extra part to the account number except that it does not show. When you print the Income Statement, the revenues can easily be grouped together then the expenses. In fact, the report will group revenues together, then non-budgetary revenues then other revenues. Next the budgetary, non-budgetary, and other expenses will have their own sections followed by a net totals line.

Account	Description	Type
1-01-001-001-000	Cash	Bank
1-01-001-002-000	Bank	Bank
1-01-005-000-000	Accounts Receivable	Accounts Receivable
1-01-009-000-000	Other Current Assets	Other Current Assets
1-01-010-000-000	Equipment	Fixed Assets
1-01-020-000-000	Accounts Payable	Accounts Payable
1-01-024-000-000	CPP Full-time Payable	Current Liability
1-01-025-000-000	Equipment Loan	Long Term Liability