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Business settings - Chart of Accounts codes
Business settings - Chart of Accounts codes

How to make your Chart of Accounts work best for your reporting purposes

Greg Hanton avatar
Written by Greg Hanton
Updated today

In Joy Pilot, your Chart of Accounts is a structured list that clearly organises your financial transactions into understandable categories. Each account is assigned a unique code to help you accurately track your finances. Having organised Chart of Accounts codes makes financial reporting easy, efficient, and compliant with local tax rules.

This help guide covers how to access, create, customise, and manage your Chart of Accounts codes within Joy Pilot.

What is a Chart of Accounts?

The Chart of Accounts plays a pivotal role in organising and managing your financial information, making reporting both streamlined and accurate. Each account within the chart has a unique code that appears throughout your accounting process, including your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheets.

Joy Pilot provides a default selection of commonly-used accounts, which cover most business scenarios. However, we understand that every business has unique needs and ways of describing expenses. That's where the flexibility of the Chart of Accounts comes into play. You can tailor your expense accounts to better reflect your operational spending. This customisation is not just about naming; it's about ensuring that you can accurately track spending in a way that makes the most sense for your business.

Accessing Your Chart of Accounts:

  1. In Joy Pilot, go to Business Info (found in the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper right corner).

  2. Under Financial Settings, find Chart of Accounts.

  3. Click View / Update to see your current list of account names, types, and codes.

Customising Existing Chart of Accounts Codes:

It's important to note that currently, Joy Pilot permits modifications only in the expense categories. The ability to edit assets or income accounts is not available at this stage. This design choice keeps your financial reporting aligned with standard accounting practices, ensuring clarity and compliance.

You can adjust existing codes and account descriptions for your Expenses to better align with your business operations or financial reporting requirements by clicking the Edit button.

For instance, your business may regularly incur expenses on Stationery and Printing, but you also want to account for Postage under this same category. In Joy Pilot, you can easily edit the respective account to include all three, renaming it to 'Stationery, Printing, and Postage'. This allows for more precise financial tracking and reporting.

Additionally, should you encounter an expense that doesn't fit any of the predefined categories, Joy Pilot gives you the freedom to add new expense accounts. This adaptability ensures that your Chart of Accounts evolves with your business, providing a true reflection of your financial activities.

When to Use

Reconciling your expenses becomes more straightforward with a well-organised Chart of Accounts. Each time you record an expense, you'll assign it to one of these codes, making it easier to track spending patterns and manage your finances effectively.

Summary

By customising your Chart of Accounts to match your specific business requirements, you'll gain deeper insights into your financial standing, empowering you to make informed decisions moving forward.

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