Chart of Accounts
The Chart of Accounts is the full list of your company's general ledger accounts: banks, cash, receivables and payables, inventory, revenue, costs and expenses. Every invoice, payment, purchase, payroll run or journal entry you register in AdmCloud automatically moves one of these accounts, so keeping it well organized is the foundation of reliable accounting.
What is it and what is it for?
Every account in the catalog has a class (bank, cash, receivables, inventory, sales, expenses, etc.) that tells the system what role it plays: which group of the Balance Sheet or Income Statement it belongs to, and which automations it enables (for example, an account classified as a bank account takes part in reconciliations and transfers).
If your company is new and the catalog is still empty, you don't need to create every account by hand: use the Create Default Chart of Accounts button to automatically generate a standard catalog in your language and currency, or the link to migrate your existing catalog from an Excel spreadsheet.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | All your accounts, with tabs for Active, Inactive, Group Accounts, Hidden from budgets, and one tab per type (Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, Costs, Expenses, Other Revenue, Other Expenses). Customizable columns and a printable catalog report. |
| Create / Edit | The account form. The visible fields change depending on the class you choose (for example, a bank account shows bank details; a credit card account shows a credit limit and an assigned employee). |
| Details | A read-only view with the current year's monthly movement, a balance or movement chart, and shortcuts to Bank Reconciliation and Process Imported Bank File when the account is a cash, bank or credit card account. |
| Statistical Account (create/details) | A special account variant that tracks quantities instead of monetary amounts (for example, units produced, hours worked). Requires the Advanced Finance module. |
| Account Movement Per Month | A report listing every account with its month-by-month movement for a year, which you can filter by subsidiary, location, department, business line and division. |
How to create an account step by step
- Open the list and click New. You need the "add" level of the Chart of Accounts permission.
- Enter the code and the name. The Name is the only required field; the Code is optional but strongly recommended to keep your catalog organized and for reconciliations.
- Choose the class. This is the most important field: it defines the account's type (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Cost, Expense, Other Revenue or Other Expenses) and whether it needs a currency or extra data. Check the General Ledger Account Classes page if you are not sure which one to use.
- Decide whether it's a detail account or a group account. See "Group accounts and hierarchy" below.
- Fill in the data specific to the class. A bank account asks for an account number, bank, check format; a credit card account asks for a credit limit and an assigned employee; an expense account can be flagged as deductible even when the vendor has no tax ID on file.
- Save. If your company has subsidiaries enabled and the class requires it (for example cash or bank), you must choose the account's subsidiary.
Group accounts and hierarchy
You can organize your catalog in levels using group accounts (also called header accounts): they never receive postings directly, but on financial reports they show the subtotal of the detail accounts placed under them via the Parent Account field.
- A group account cannot itself have a parent account (there is no more than one level of nesting).
- The chosen parent account must actually be a group account.
- The parent and child accounts must be of the same type (for example, both Assets).
- If the parent account is limited to a subsidiary, the child account must belong to that same subsidiary.
This feature depends on the parent accounts capability of your plan (available from the Start plan onward).
Statistical accounts
Statistical accounts track quantities, not money: for example, units produced, kilometers driven, or any other indicator you want to follow month by month alongside your accounting. They are created, edited and reviewed on their own screens (New Statistical Account), separate from the general account form.
This feature requires the Enterprise plan with the Advanced Finance module enabled. If you don't see the option, this module is not enabled for your company.
Key fields
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Code | A short, optional identifier for the account. It cannot repeat within your catalog. |
| Name | The account's description. It is the only required field. |
| Class | Defines the account's type and its automations. See General Ledger Account Classes. |
| Group Account / Parent Account | Organizes the catalog into a hierarchy for subtotals on reports. See "Group accounts" above. |
| Currency | Required on cash, bank, credit card, receivables/payables and reimbursement accounts; optional on the rest. |
| Subsidiary | Limits the account to a specific subsidiary. Required on cash/bank accounts when your company uses subsidiaries. |
| Bank details (account number, bank, bank tax ID, account type, check numbering and check format) | Only visible on accounts classified as Bank; they enable bank reconciliation and check printing. |
| Credit Limit / Assigned Employee | Only on Credit Card accounts. |
| Expense deductible without tax ID | Lets the expense be treated as deductible even when the vendor's tax ID is not on file. |
| Visible in Dispatch Notes | Shows the account as an option when creating dispatch notes. |
| Requires business line / department / location / division / project / related party | Forces that piece of data to be entered every time a movement is posted to this account. |
| Expects movement every month | Flags the account for monthly-movement monitoring (for example, anomaly alerts). |
| Hide from budgets | The account is not offered when creating a new budget; it still shows on budgets where it already had values. |
| Exclude from account suggestions | The account is not shown as a suggestion when searching for an account on other documents. |
| Include in anomaly analysis | Enables this account for AI-based anomaly analysis, if your plan includes it. |
| Tags and custom fields | Extra information defined by your company to classify or filter accounts. |
| Notes | Free-form remarks about how the account is used. |
| Inactive | Hides the account from searches and lists without deleting its history. When you add or duplicate a transaction the account is no longer offered in the account pickers. When you edit an existing transaction it is still shown, so documents recorded while the account was active are not blocked. |
Validations when saving
- Name is required.
- Code must be unique: it cannot repeat with another account's code.
- The class must exist.
- Subsidiary required on cash or bank accounts when your company has subsidiaries enabled and the account is not a group account.
- Parent account rules: a group account cannot have a parent, the chosen parent must be a group account of the same type, cannot be the account itself, and if it has a subsidiary it must match the child account's subsidiary.
- Currency required on cash, bank, credit card, receivables/payables and reimbursement accounts; if a currency is set, it must exist in your company.
- Check format: you can only choose either a native check format or an HTML template, not both; the chosen template must have content and be flagged as PDF.
- You cannot turn an account into a group account if it already has posted movements or is linked to a payroll concept.
- You cannot change the currency, subsidiary or auxiliary class (customer/vendor/item/fixed asset) of an account that already has movements.
Availability, permissions and conditions
- Access is controlled by the "Chart of Accounts" permission of your user group, with separate levels to view, add, edit and delete.
- The Accounting module is available from the Start plan onward; on the Enterprise plan it depends on the Accounting module being enabled for your company.
- Group accounts / parent accounts require your plan's parent-accounts capability (not available on the Billing plan).
- Statistical accounts require the Enterprise plan with the Advanced Finance module enabled.
- Custom fields on accounts require your plan to include custom fields.
- AI anomaly analysis depends on your plan and the corresponding feature being enabled.
Tips and common pitfalls
New company without a catalog yet? Use the Create Default Chart of Accounts button before creating accounts by hand: it saves time and keeps a structure consistent with the system's automations.
You cannot freely reclassify an account with movements. If the account already has transactions, the system blocks changes to its currency, subsidiary or auxiliary class (and won't let you turn it into a group account) to protect your accounting's integrity. Fix this by creating a new account and moving the balance with a journal entry.
Need subtotals by category on your reports? Use group accounts: create the header account with no movements of its own and assign the related detail accounts as its children through the Parent Account field.