Add a General Ledger Account

This article explains how we add or edit general ledger accounts in our accounts list/chart of accounts or general ledger. The accounts list affects everything that happens in Actionstep accounting, including how you record income and expenses and the layout of your financial reports.

All accounts must initially be set up as master accounts and can then be "installed" at a divisional level. Therefore, in order to start adding accounts you must select master accounts from the Display drop down box.

Available on Practice Pro + Accounting 

Add a general ledger account

Navigate to Accounting > Accounts > Account List

To add an account click on the dropdown next to display and select Master Accounts 

To add an account select the header account (an account with a green cross next to it ) where you would like to insert your new account. 

For example, I would like to create a new income account called "Administration Fees". This is an expense that I charge clients and I would like to group this income into one general ledger account. 

As this new account would belong under income I would click the green cross next to income as shown below. 

You will then be presented with some options:- 

Account Details

Description

Structure Type

Header or child account. In this example we are creating a new child account as this will sit under the Income header account. You only want to create a header account if you want to create a subsection of accounts under this header account (child accounts). 

Account Number

Actionstep's default account numbering system consists follows the format "N-NNNN" with the "N" representing numerals. Organizations are encouraged to replace this numbering system with whatever numbering system their team might be used to. Should you choose to preserve the default numbering system it's helpful to understand how it is organized. 

First digit: The first digit indicates the account belongs to one of 6 account types. 

1	Assets
2	Liabilities
3	Equity
4	Income
5	Cost of Sales
6	Expenses

Second and Third Digit: When combined with the first digit the second and third digits indicate the account sub type. 

1-11	Bank Accounts and Other Current Assets
1-12	Other Assets
1-17	Accounts Receivable
1-21	Fixed Assets
1-40	Other Assets
2-12	Accounts Payable
2-11	Credit Card
2-13	Other Current Liabilities
2-90	Other Liabilities
3-11	Equity
4-11	Income
4-81	Other Income
5-13	Cost of Sales
6-10	Expense
6-90	Other Expense
6-60	Income Tax Expense

Fourth and Fifth Digit: Are used for ordering and identifying specific accounts of a certain type and subtype.

Adding a new account number using this system: In order to add a new account of an existing subtype, we recommend using the preset first through third digits and any unused forth and fifth digit. 

Example: I would like to insert the new child account "Administration Fees" under disbursements so I would use the account number "4-1250".

Note: make sure to not user sequential numbering - like 4-1201 because if later on you want to add another child account and you want it to appear between Disbursements and Administration Fees you will need to change all the numbering. By leaving a space in the numbering you could use 4-1225 to place another child account in between.

Account Name

Give the account a name that is easily identifiable

Parent Account

Choose the parent account that this child account will belong to (if you have followed the instructions above and selected the green tick next to the section where you want to insert the new account then this will appear automatically).

Account Type

The Financial reporting will Group by Account Type - so it is very important that you group account types correctly ie: don't have different Account Types under the same Parent Account.

WARNING: If you are unsure which of account type and tax code please speak with your accountant. Actionstep cannot advise you on this and take no responsibility for incorrectly set up accounts.  

Tax Code

The Tax code associated with the general ledger account.

Cashflow section

This links through to the cashflow report. 

Matter Restriction

This option allows you to specify if the account should be linked to actions (for profitability analysis). These flow through to the Exception report in Accounting.

Options are:

• This account can have action or non-action related entries
• YES: only post action related entries to this account
• NO: never post action related entries to this account

* Only seen if using Cash Accounting. 

Account Details	Description
Cash Natural Allocation Type	When configuring for use with Cash Basis Accounting. In the Accounting preferences, you may have set a "Natural Allocation" for applying payments - for example, when an invoice is part paid do you allocate to disbursements first - this field determines which of these allocations this code is attributed to.
Cash Natural Allocation Order	Where Natural Allocation is set and has more than one code attributed to it - which order does this sit in? Note: If not populated, the system will pro-rata over the codes while adhering to the Natural Allocation set up in Administration > Accounting Preferences

Click green save button when satisfied with your choices. 

The account you have created will not show straight away you need to refresh your screen to see it in the accounts list.