# Chart of accounts

> The complete list of accounts that organize every transaction — account types, codes, system accounts, and how to customize it.

Source: https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/chart-of-accounts/

The **Chart of Accounts** is the backbone of your books: the complete list of accounts that every transaction is sorted into. Every invoice line, bill line, payment, and journal entry debits and credits accounts from this list. Get it roughly right at the start and you’ll rarely need to touch it again.

Go to **Accounting → Chart of Accounts**.

## Account types

Accounts are grouped into five reporting sections, each containing one or more types. The type decides where the account appears on your financial statements.

| Section         | Types                                                                                        |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Assets**      | Bank, Current Asset, Inventory, Prepayment, Fixed Asset, Intangible Asset, Non-current Asset |
| **Liabilities** | Current Liability, Liability, Non-current Liability, Long-term Liability                     |
| **Equity**      | Equity                                                                                       |
| **Revenue**     | Revenue, Sales, Other Income                                                                 |
| **Expenses**    | Expense, Direct Costs, Overhead, Depreciation                                                |

Your reports (Balance Sheet, P\&L, Cash Flow) are built directly from these classifications — an account’s type determines which section and subtotal it rolls into.

## The default chart

Every new organization starts with a sensible default chart. A few of the seeded accounts:

* **200** Sales Revenue, **210** Service Revenue
* **310** Cost of Goods Sold, **400** Advertising, **469** Rent
* **090** Bank Account, **610** Accounts Receivable, **630** Inventory
* **710** Office Equipment, **720** Computer Equipment, **730** Motor Vehicles
* **800** Accounts Payable, **820** Tax Payable, **905** Owner’s Equity, **960** Retained Earnings

You can rename, add to, or renumber any of these. **Bank accounts** are created separately under [Bank Accounts](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/bank-reconciliation/) (they’re still just accounts of type *Bank*, with extra bank fields).

## Add or edit an account

**Accounting → Chart of Accounts → Add Account.**

| Field                               | Notes                                                                                                                                      |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Account Code**                    | Up to 20 chars; unique per org. Live-checked as you type. Numeric codes are conventional but not required.                                 |
| **Account Type**                    | The 5-section dropdown above. (Bank accounts are added elsewhere.)                                                                         |
| **Account Name**                    | Required, up to 200 chars.                                                                                                                 |
| **Currency**                        | Only for balance-sheet types. **Immutable after creation** — see [Multi-currency](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/multi-currency/). |
| **Monetary account**                | For foreign-currency, ambiguous types only (see below).                                                                                    |
| **Default Tax Rate**                | Auto-applied when this account is picked on a document line. Pre-seeded by type (sales types → sales tax, expense types → purchase tax).   |
| **Enable payments to this account** | Adds the account to payment-from dropdowns. On by default for banks.                                                                       |

Editing is the same form plus an **Active** toggle and a **Delete Account** button. Deleting is blocked once an account has transactions — **deactivate** it instead (it stops appearing in dropdowns but keeps its history).

## System accounts (managed automatically)

Some accounts are flagged **System** — they’re created and maintained by AccountFUN’s automated flows. System accounts are resolved **by role, not by code**, so you can safely renumber them without breaking anything. Their **type** is locked and they can’t be deactivated or deleted; the name on the core control accounts can’t be changed either.

| Role                     | Default code | Manual journal? | What it does                                                     |
| ------------------------ | ------------ | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Accounts Receivable      | 610          | **Locked**      | Tracks what customers owe you                                    |
| Accounts Payable         | 800          | **Locked**      | Tracks what you owe suppliers                                    |
| Tax Payable              | 820          | **Allowed**     | Holds sales/input tax until you pay the tax authority            |
| Inventory Asset          | 630          | **Locked**      | Holds tracked-stock value at weighted-average cost               |
| Cost of Goods Sold       | 310          | **Locked**      | Relieved when tracked stock is sold                              |
| Realized FX              | 850          | **Allowed**     | Absorbs realized currency gains/losses on settlement             |
| Unrealized FX            | 860          | **Locked**      | Unrealized FX gains/losses, calculated live on reports           |
| Retained Earnings        | 960          | **Allowed**     | Dividends and direct retained-earnings adjustments               |
| Accumulated Depreciation | 711          | **Locked**      | Contra-asset for fixed-asset depreciation                        |
| Depreciation Expense     | 416          | **Locked**      | Depreciation charge P\&L account                                 |
| Accumulated Amortization | 701          | **Locked**      | Contra-asset for intangible-asset amortization                   |
| Amortization Expense     | 417          | **Locked**      | Amortization charge P\&L account                                 |
| Custom Adjustments       | 840          | **Allowed**     | Housekeeping/balancing account for opening balances and rounding |

**Locked** system accounts are driven entirely by automated flows (invoicing, bill approval, payments, reconciliation, depreciation/amortization runs, inventory movements, live FX on reports) and won’t appear in the manual-journal line picker. The four **Allowed** accounts are reserved for year-end and one-off corrections — see [Manual journals](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/manual-journals/#when-youd-post-to-a-system-account) for worked examples.

## Codes and numbering

There’s **no enforced number range** — codes are free-form. The default chart follows a loose convention (000s bank, 200s revenue, 300s direct costs, 400s expenses, 600s assets, 800s liabilities, 900s equity) but you can use whatever scheme you like. You can **Import CSV** / **Export CSV** a whole chart under the toolbar buttons.

## The “monetary” flag (multi-currency only)

When you set a balance-sheet account to a **foreign currency**, some types are ambiguous under accounting standard IAS 21 — is a *Current Asset* a receivable (revalued each period) or a prepayment (frozen at cost)? For those, AccountFUN asks whether the account is **monetary** (revalued at the closing rate each period) or **non-monetary** (kept at the historical rate). Bank, inventory, fixed-asset, and equity types have safe defaults and won’t prompt you. See the [Multi-currency guide](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/multi-currency/) for the full explanation.

## Locking

Two layers of locking protect your chart:

* **Account active/inactive** — deactivate to retire an account without losing history; the last active bank account can’t be deactivated.
* **Organization Lock Date** — set under [Settings → Organization](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/settings/); it blocks *any* posting on or before that date across the whole org so closed periods can’t be disturbed.

## When you’d customize the chart

* Add a dedicated account for a new expense category (e.g. *Software Subscriptions* under Expense).
* Add revenue sub-accounts to track product lines separately.
* Set up clearing or accrual accounts for prepayments and intercompany entries.
* Import your existing chart from another system via CSV.

Most small businesses never need more than the default chart plus a handful of extra accounts — and every one of them is editable later.