When you first set up a company, you must create the company's chart of accounts in the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen. This screen appears only during the initial setup of the company, and provides several methods to create a chart of accounts for the new company:
§ Copy an industry-specific template: Select one of the industry-specific templates from the drop-down list. You can preview the content of each template from the Supporting Documents screen, available from the Resources drop-down menu.
§ Copy accounts from another client: Copy a chart from another client. In addition, you can copy the other client's products and vendors.
§ Import a chart of accounts: Save accounts from Peachtree, QuickBooks, or Creative Solutions Accounting to an Excel file and import the accounts, or import accounts from an Excel file formatted according to our template. After importing, review the chart to assign necessary categories.
§ Enter accounts manually: Create a unique chart for this client. This option takes more time, but lets you customize the account more easily.
Once you have set up a chart of accounts, the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen is replaced by the Chart of Accounts screen from which you can review and maintain all the company's accounts.
Important! We strongly recommend that you consider the options available on the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen carefully, and choose the method best suited to the company you are setting up. Once initial setup has been completed, you cannot change your selection unless you reset the chart of accounts screen to its initial status and begin again, and all changes to your chart of accounts will need to be made manually. Because resetting your chart requires you to purge any transactions you have entered, we recommend using this option only in unusual circumstances.
To set up a chart of accounts for a new company:
1. Ensure that you have completed the following:
a. Created the company in the Administration module, available from the Setup item on the Launcher.
b. Signed the company up to use the system either from the Administration module or from the Client Management screen, available from the Client Center menu.
c. Specified setup information for the company in the Company Setup screen, available from the Company menu.
2. Select the Accounts item from the Company menu to open the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen.
Note: This screen appears only when you first set up the company. Once you have chosen or set up a chart of accounts, the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen is replaced with the tabbed Accounts screen that enables you to maintain your chart of accounts.
3. Click a checkbox to specify the method to use to create the chart of accounts for the company.
The buttons associated with the method you choose are enabled. The subsequent steps depend on the method you choose.
Note: Non-profit organizations must select Copy Industry-Specific Template.
4. Perform one of the following, depending on the method you chose:
§ If you selected the Copy Industry-Specific Template or Copy Accounts from Specific Client options, use the drop-down lists to select the Industry whose template you want to use, or the Client whose accounts you want to copy.
Non-Profit Organizations: Select the Non-Profit item from the Industry-Specific Template drop-down list. The chart of accounts you create automatically matches the three automatically-created Non-Profit funds (Unrestricted Net Assets, Temporarily Restricted Net Assets, and Permanently Restricted Net Assets) to Capital accounts (Retained Earnings class) of the same name.
Note: You can view the details of industry-specific templates from the Supporting Documents screen, available from the Resources drop-down menu, if necessary.
§ If you selected the Copy Accounts from Specific Clients option, specify whether to copy vendors and products from the specified client using the Copy Vendors and Copy Products checkboxes.
§ If you selected the Import method, click Sample Template to open a properly-formatted Excel spreadsheet to use as a template for the data to import, and save account information from the external accounting software into the spreadsheet without changing any columns or headings.
5. Click the appropriate button, depending on the method selected, to create the chart of accounts for the company:
§ If you selected Copy Industry-Specific Template, click Create.
§ If you selected Copy Accounts from Specific Client, click Copy.
§ If you selected Import, click Upload File, navigate to the prepared and saved Excel spreadsheet to import, and select it.
§ If you selected Enter Accounts Manually, click Continue to open the Chart of Accounts screen, and click Add to access the Entry panel for your first entry. Use the fields in the Entry panel to enter information for the accounts and click Save.
The chart of account is created.
Once your chart of accounts has been created, the Set Up Chart of Accounts screen disappears from the Company menu and the Accounts item on the Company menu opens the Chart of Accounts screen, from which you can maintain your chart of accounts.