How To Set up your Chart of Accounts
From LedgerSMB
This is a brief tutorial on how to set up your chart of accounts. This is probably one of the first things you want to do when setting up a brand-new install of LedgerSMB. This is not a difficult task, but for the uninitiated it may be a little bit daunting. I will take you through it here step by step.
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[edit] Step 1: Getting familiar with the Menu Items
First step is to login to LedgerSMB, and take a quick look at the menu on the left hand side of your screen. About two-thirds of the way down you will see a menu item labeled "System", click on it. This will open up a collapsing menu with a whole bunch of different options. Dont worry about those for now, just find the option that says "Chart of Accounts" and click on it.
From here, another menu will open up. This menu is the primary menu you will use for managing and viewing your chart of accounts. Specifically, the two menu items that concern us for the purposes of this tutorial are labeled "Add Account" and "List Accounts".
You may also notice two options labeled "Add GIFI" and "List GIFI". These options are primarily of interest for Canadian users of LedgerSMB, although the LedgerSMB documentation does indicate that GIFI codes can be used for tracking...
[edit] Step 2: Getting familiar with the Default Chart of Accounts
Now that you are familiar with the menu items, let us take a look at the different accounts that LedgerSMB installs by default. The chart of accounts are inserted into the LedgerSMB databases when the database is created in admin.pl; these accounts are included with the default LedgerSMB installation.
Click on the menu option "List Accounts". This will open up a new screen listing all the different accounts. If you are already familiar with basic accounting procedures, this List of Accounts will be a familiar site. If not, a good place to start would be the LedgerSMB documentation, which references a number of good sources to help you get up to speed on basic accounting principles.
Notice the account numbers on the left hand side of the screen. These are designed for maximum flexibility, as the chart of accounts will appear in the order of the account numbers. A default install of LedgerSMB will leave ample room to add new accounts within the range of already existing account numbers, so that the account will appear in the order that you want them to. Once you begin to enter data into the chart of accounts, it will show you the monetary amount each account has in the respective columns, i.e. Debit and Credit.
The Link Column shows you the relationship each account has to a specific account type, such as Accounts Recievable, Accounts Payable.
[edit] Step 3: Editing Accounts
Once you are sufficiently familiar with the default LedgerSMB accounts, you can begin to think about how these accounts will fit into your particular business needs. Now, lets take a look at how to edit an account.
From the Chart of Accounts, just click on the account number of the account you want to edit, which can be found on the far left-hand column of the chart. This will open up a screen where all the account variables can be edited and customized.
You may want to modify some of the pre-existing accounts to reflect your unique circumstances as a business. Lets go through a simple example.
You may want to modify the account number, so that it shows up higher or lower in the chart of accounts list. To do this, first decide exactly where you want that particular account to appear. Then, choose a number between the account below that spot, and the account above that spot, and assign it to the account you are editing. Next, open up the account and change the account number in the box on the top of the account page, click save, and you will notice that the account is now in the order that you selected.
Note: Only you and your company can decide what numbering and ordering system works best for you, but I recommend you try to work with the schema that LedgerSMB installs by default.
[edit] Step 4: Adding Accounts
Adding an account is fairly straightforward, and not much different than editing your chart of accounts. On your chart of accounts menu, you will see a menu item that says "Add Account". Click on it, here you are given an html form that you need to fill out correctly for it to appear in your chart of accounts. Remember, choose your account number based on where you want it to appear in the chart of accounts.
The accounts you need to add, or remove, are largely a function of your internal accounting processes and procedures, which is well beyond the scope of this tutorial. Just make sure that each account is given an appropriate number, and that each account is assigned the appropriate account type, e.g Asset Liability, Receivables, Payables, etc. LedgerSMB has a pretty good default setup, and studying this carefully might be a useful guide as you set up other account types. When you have the account setup, click on save, and it should show up in your chart of accounts.
[edit] Step 5: Replicating a Model Chart of Accounts
If your installation hosts multiple sets of books for businesses or organizations with similar needs, try this. Once you have customized a model Chart of Accounts, use pg_dump to harvest the insert statements for the chart table and save them as $LEDGERSMB_ROOT/sql/<custom_chart_name.sql>. Consider adding appropriate statements to populate the tax table and the defaults table. Inspect other options in that directory for samples to model from.
