Chart of accounts

Set up the chart of accounts the first time

1. Open the chart while it is empty: it offers a starter list, grouped.
2. Check the accounts you want: the checked ones are a sensible minimum.
3. Press Create these accounts.

Then: The accounts are added, and a General fund for unrestricted money if the organization has no fund yet. Rename any of them afterwards.

Who: Whoever holds Record money at the top unit, or an Owner or Admin: every unit posts against the same chart, which is what lets one unit's figures be added to another's. Changing the organization's settings is not enough: the IT admin, who holds no finance permission, does not shape the chart.

Add an account

1. Press New account.
2. Type its Code and Name.
3. Choose What it is: something we own, something we owe, a fund balance, income or spending.
4. Choose its Kind, for something owned, owed or a fund balance.
5. For spending, choose what Spending is for: programs, running the unit, or fundraising.
6. Choose an account it Sits under, if it belongs inside one.
7. Add a line of Description for whoever picks it.
8. Press Add the account.

Then: It is in the chart for every unit at once, and offered on every entry from then on. Nested under another account, its amounts add into that one on every statement. Of the kinds, cash, bank and mobile money are what count as money in hand on the Overview, and what a gift can come into, whether the kind was chosen or is still guessed from the account's name.

Your unit opens a PayPal account. Mary Ann adds 1020 PayPal as something we own, of the kind Mobile money: the Overview counts it as cash from then on, and a gift can come into it.

Say what an account is for, or move it under another

1. Open the account's menu at the end of its row.
2. Press Change….
3. Choose its Kind, or what Spending is for.
4. Choose an account it Sits under, or Nothing — at the top.
5. Press Save.

Then: It changes everywhere it was used: every statement reads the new name, and the statement of activities groups the spending by what it is for.

Rent should be reported as running the center, not as programs. Daniel changes 6100 Rent & premises and chooses Running the center under Spending is for: the statement of activities moves it.

Retire an account, or delete one never used

1. Open the account's menu at the end of its row.
2. Press Retire….
3. Press Retire it.

Then: It is no longer offered for new entries. Its entries stay where they are, it reads on every statement it was on, and the chart marks it retired.

Rather not? Press Bring it back on a retired account to use it again. An account nothing has ever used offers Delete… as well, and is gone for good.

Download the chart, or change it from a spreadsheet

1. Press Download.
2. Choose Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv).
3. To change the chart from a file, press Import.
4. Press Excel template or CSV template, or start from the chart you downloaded.
5. Fill in one row per account. If you start from the downloaded chart, clear “(guessed)” after a kind or a purpose, or the whole cell: a guessed word is not one the import reads, and the row is refused.
6. Press Choose the filled-in file.
7. Read what it found, then press the Import button with the number of accounts.

Then: The download is the chart with this unit's balances. On import, a code already in the chart changes that account and a new code adds one; nothing is retired or deleted from a file.