The Beginner’s Guide to Quickbooks Chart of Accounts
The chart of accounts is an essential component of your business’s financial records. As the name suggests, it’s a chart of all your business’s accounts. Within the chart of accounts, you’ll see the vendors and customers with whom your business has conducted transactions as well as the total amounts of their respective purchases. Assuming you use Quickbooks, you can easily view the chart of accounts in just a few simple steps. To learn more about the chart of accounts and how to use it in Quickbooks, keep reading.
Overview of the Chart of Accounts
As your business grows, so will its list of accounts. Your business will acquire new customers and form partnerships with new vendors or suppliers. The chart of accounts is a list of all your business’s accounts. It reveals with customers and vendors have conducted transactions with your business, and it reveals how much money they spent or received from the transactions.
When viewing the chart of accounts in Quickbooks, you’ll see account registers. An account register is simply an account. Each of your business’s accounts — customers, vendors, suppliers, etc. — has their own account register. The chart of accounts consists of these account registers, which you can evaluate to determine their history and balances. Rather than trying to sift through all your business’s financial records to find a specific account, you can pull it up by accessing the chart of accounts.
How to Access the Chart of Accounts
You can access the chart of accounts in Quickbooks in just a few simple steps. For Quickbooks Online, log in to your account and click the “Settings” menu at the top. Under the “Settings” menu, select “Chart of Accounts.” Quickbooks Online will then reveal your business’s chart of accounts. To access the chart of accounts in Quickbooks Desktop, log in to your account and click “Company, Lists or Accountant” at the top of the home screen.
Whether you use Quickbooks Online or Quickbooks Desktop to access it, the chart of accounts consists of four different account types. In the chart of accounts, you can see your business’s assets, such as equipment and real property. You can also see your business’s liabilities, such as loans and other forms of debt. The chart of accounts also shows your business’s income, such as sales revenue. Finally, it shows your business’s operating expenses, such as supplies and advertising.
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