Maybe you might want to read this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart_of_accounts#Types_of_accounts
The first digit might signify the type of account (asset, liability, etc.). For example, if the first digit is a “1,” it is an asset. If the first digit is a “6,” it is an operating expense.
But at the end, one often follows the chart of accounts as instructed by your accountant.
Interesting. I never realised that the account code was used for actual accounting purposes. I was always under the impression that it was used to order the accounts on the summary page which is what I use it for, mainly for the sub headings. Oh well its not something that I need to worry about as my accountant has never asked me to address that and I don’t think its required in UK law. Thanks for clarifying that.
Account codes obviously also control the order of appearance in Manager. So both purposes are useful, depending on what you need. In some jurisdictions, certain businesses (or perhaps all) must use legally mandated account structures.
Yes they are. And in Italy for my kind of activity the law states that se should use letters, numbers and dots. That’s way I was asking if It can be pur under ideas
Currently, the Code field is used mostly for making accounts to appear in correct order. I’m considering to replace this with some drag & drop mechanism for easier re-ordering and then introduce proper field for account codes which will allow alphanumerical characters (not just number).
At this point, if you need to show account code with non-numerical characters, why not put this code into the name field?
That’s what I’m doing right now. But since I use those codes also for extra reporting and business intelligence, having those inside the description fields, it’s not very functional. And you have to keep in mind that I don’t want those codes to show in every report.
It would be easy and fine to have a “note” text column in the chart of account fields that one can choose to display or not in Manager’s reports.
The ideal thing as I said once would be the possibility to put custom fields also in the chart of accounts.
ok, Is there any possibility to make a copy of chart of account and paste it if i have a new business or i have to make it all from start ?
With the actual export/import under setting you can do this only for the balance sheet not the P&L. It was done for localisation. That’s why it was done this way… maybe @lubos can extend it.
@aehf, where are you trying to copy and paste the chart of accounts from? If you are trying to create a Manager business similar to an existing one, you could import a backup and use the Batch Delete function to get rid of the transactions in the origin business.
As it’s not a feature now, here’s an ‘out of the box’ idea.
Use the first 2 digits of your account # to represent letter 01 = “A”, 02 = “B”, 03 = “C”, etc…
It should then be fairly simple to create an Excel vba script to change the first 2 digit to a letter and format the ‘dots’ into the correct location.
Not ‘elegant’, but would get the desired result.
I have been locked into MYOB for many years - now using Manager (Thank Goodness) so I use the same numbers for my Account Codes as I was using before (eg. 10000 Assets 20000 Liabilities 30000 for Equity 40000 for Income 50000 for Purchases (cost of Sales) 60000 Expenses 80000 Other Income and 90000 for Other Expenses. I have set up a Template using this chart of accounts and just import a New Business for a new Client. This saves me a lot of time setting up in the event of obtaining a new client.
The latest version (20.2.62) allows alphanumerical codes in chart of accounts.
This means account codes will no longer be used to define order of groups and accounts. Instead there is new mechanism to reorder chart of accounts when you click on arrow button.
You get another screen where you can drag & drop items within the level you clicked on.
Then press Update button at the bottom.
Thanks @lubos. A very big improvement. This together with the adding to the import/export of BS structure of the P&L would simply the kick off of each business.
Dear @lubos, another thing that you should took under consideration is that, now that you added the possibility to use alphanumeric codes, you should extend the possibility to edit also Assets and Liabilities accounts in order to add the code (as in the Equity field).
Why do account groups need a code?
Here in Italy the a/n coding is required by law in order to identify each account as unique. While you can rename the account as many times as you want what should not change is the code.
Like a database’s ID.
You said assets and liabilities groups should have an ability to set the code too. Why? I see no point.
For example:
A. Assets
A.A. Fixed Assets
A.A.01. Forniture and Office Equipment
A.A.01.00100 Computers
A.A.01.00200 Forniture
L. Liabilities
N. Net Asset Value
Assets, Liabities and Equity are there, you can still add codes for the accounts under each category.
Assets
A.0010 Fixed Assets
A.0011 Furniture
A.0012 Applicances
A.0013 XXXX
A.0020 Equipments
A.0021 Computers
A.0022 Printers
Liabilities
L.0010 Taxes to be paid
L.0011 Sales Tax
L.0012 Income Tax
and so on. Categorize with coding instead of Alphabets.