Chart of accounts overview

What is a chart of accounts?

The chart of accounts (COA) is the complete list of nominal codes your business uses to categorise every financial transaction. Every entry in AccBooks — bank transactions, invoices, journals, payroll runs — is posted to one or more nominal codes.

AccBooks organises nominal codes into seven top-level groups:

Group	Typical codes	Examples
Assets	1000–1999	Bank accounts, debtors, fixed assets
Liabilities	2000–2999	Creditors, loans, VAT liability
Equity	3000–3999	Share capital, retained earnings
Revenue	4000–4999	Sales, other income
Cost of sales	5000–5999	Materials, direct labour
Overheads	6000–6999	Rent, utilities, insurance
Other	7000–9999	Depreciation, exceptional items

Starter charts

When you create a company, AccBooks offers three starter charts:

• Standard (FRS 102) — a full chart suitable for most UK limited companies, including sub-categories for fixed assets, accruals, prepayments and deferred income.
• Simplified (FRS 105) — a lighter chart for micro-entities with turnover under £632,000.
• Sole trader — designed for self-employed individuals using the simplified expenses regime.

Viewing your chart

Go to Settings → Chart of accounts. The list shows every nominal code with its name, account type (Asset, Liability, etc.) and the current period balance.

Use the search box to find codes by name or number. Click any code to see all transactions posted to it.

Adding a new account

1. Go to Settings → Chart of accounts → Add account.
2. Enter a code — a four-digit number. AccBooks suggests the next available number in the relevant group.
3. Enter an account name.
4. Select the account type (Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Cost of sales, Overhead).
5. Select the VAT default — the VAT treatment that will be assumed when this code is used.
6. Click Save.

New accounts are available immediately in transactions, journals and reports.

Renaming an account

Click the pencil icon next to any account. Change the name and click Save. Existing transactions are not affected — they already carry the nominal code number; the name is just a label.

Archiving an account

If you no longer use a code, archive it rather than deleting it (you can’t delete an account that has transactions). Go to the account, click More → Archive. Archived accounts don’t appear in dropdowns but their historical transactions are retained.

Mapping bank accounts to nominal codes

When you connect a bank feed, AccBooks creates a new nominal code for that account automatically. To map it to an existing code instead:

1. Go to Bank feeds → Settings for the relevant account.
2. Under Nominal code, choose the existing code from the dropdown.

Importing a custom chart

If you’re migrating from another system, go to Settings → Chart of accounts → Import and upload a CSV with columns: code, name, account_type. AccBooks will map these to its internal structure and flag any conflicts.