Chart of accounts

The chart of accounts is the list of every account your ledger posts to. Heading accounts give it shape, such as Current assets; Posting accounts under them take the entries, such as Cash at bank. Axon Suite starts you with an empty chart, so build it before the first document is posted: by hand, or from a file your accountant prepares.

Add an account

1. Go to Finance ‣ General ledger ‣ Chart of accounts and click New account.
2. On the General tab, fill in Code and Name, for example 1110 and Cash at bank.
3. Pick the Subsidiary that owns the account, or leave it empty so every subsidiary can use it.
4. Pick the Type and the Account class: Heading to group accounts, Posting to take entries.
5. Pick the Currency and, under a heading, the Parent account.
6. On the Configuration tab, pick a Control account type if a subledger answers for this account, and switch on Bank/cash account for a bank or cash account.
7. Click Save.

The account takes its place in the chart, indented under its parent. The list shows each account’s Balance, one column per subsidiary when you work across several.

Field	What it sets
Type	Asset, liability, equity, revenue, expense or cost of goods sold. An account under a parent has the parent’s type.
Account class	Heading accounts only group others and never take an entry. Posting accounts take entries.
Parent account	The heading this account sits under. A chart goes ten levels deep at most.
Alternative code	A second code for the account, such as the one a local reporting standard uses.
Control account	The subledger the account belongs to, such as Accounts receivable or GRNI (goods received not invoiced). A control account only moves through its documents, never through a manual journal entry.
Bank/cash account	Offers the account when you add a bank account.
Native currency only	Refuses journal lines in any currency but the account’s own.

Caution

Code, Type, Account class, Currency, Parent account and Subsidiary cannot be changed after you save. Once an account has entries, its Control account type and its Bank/cash account switch stop changing too.

Ask for a dimension on an account

When entries on an account should be analysed by department, project or another dimension, map the dimension to the account.

1. Open the account and click Edit.
2. On the Dimensions tab, click Add dimension mapping and pick the Dimension name.
3. Switch on Mandatory if every journal line on this account must name a value.
4. Click Save.

A journal line on this account now shows a picker for each mapped dimension.

Import accounts from a file

To load a whole chart at once, import it.

1. On Finance ‣ General ledger ‣ Chart of accounts, click Import.
2. Under Download template, click Template and fill it in: one row per account, with its Code, Name, Class and Currency and, for an account under a heading, the heading’s code in Parent.
3. Drop the file on the panel, and match its columns under Map columns.
4. Check the Preview, then click the import button under it, which names how many rows it imports.

Axon Suite imports the file whole, or refuses it and lists every row to fix, so a chart is never half loaded.

See an account’s entries

Open an account from the chart. The Ledger tab lists every posted entry on it, with its Document date, Posting date, Document, Debit and Credit. Click a line to open the journal entry behind it.

Tip

The account header shows its Normal balance and Report type, so you can check at a glance that it lands on the balance sheet or the income statement as you expect.

Archive an account

Open the account and click Archive. An archived account is no longer offered on new entries, and its history stays. Click Restore to bring it back.

Messages you may meet

Message	What to do
An account with that code already exists.	Pick another Code.
An account takes the type of the account above it, so it cannot state a different one.	Pick the parent’s Type, or another parent.
A heading or total account is a structural rollup and carries no bank, cash or control setting.	Leave Control account on None and Bank/cash account off for a heading.
The account hierarchy cannot go deeper than ten levels.	Pick a parent higher up the chart.
The setting cannot change because the account already carries posted transactions.	Keep the setting, or open a new account for the new use.
The account still has live child accounts; archiving it would strand them.	Archive or move the accounts under it first.
Posting profiles still post to this account; point them at another account before archiving it.	Change those posting profiles first.
Bank accounts still sit on this account; archive them before archiving it.	Archive those bank accounts first.