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Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•158• Updated 2 weeks ago

The chart of accounts is a complete list of your QuickBooks Online accounts and their balances. Use it to keep your books and records current.

Get familiar with the chart of accounts

To view your chart of accounts: Follow this link to complete the steps in product

Your accounts are listed with columns for name, account type, detail type, balance in QuickBooks, and bank balance. Use the buttons above the chart to batch edit multiple accounts, print your chart of accounts, or edit the columns you see.

Account types and detail types determine the data that shows up in reports like the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss.

If your account has an account history, you can see its transaction history and current balance. To view the account history or report in the chart of accounts, select Account history or Run report.

Note: If an account doesn’t have an account history, run a report to see its transactions.

Learn about account types in the chart of accounts

The account type column categorizes transactions into a few main account types, including:

Assets: Money spent on vehicles, equipment, buildings, or other assets used for business.
Liabilities: Money you owe but haven't yet paid, like loans, mortgages, or lines of credit.
Income: Money you earned or gained from your normal day-to-day business, like sales revenue or income from services rendered.
Expenses: Money you spend on things you do every day, like advertising, office supplies, or rent.

Customize your chart of accounts

QuickBooks automatically sets up your chart of accounts, but you can customize it to meet your business needs. You can add or remove accounts, edit them, or reactivate them. You don't have to use account numbers, but your accountant may recommend it.

You can make an account inactive to remove it from your current chart of accounts. This prevents further transactions within it, but doesn't delete it from your records.

Learn about accounts that QuickBooks sets up for you

When you first set up QuickBooks Online, we create accounts based on your business entity. When you take certain actions in QuickBooks we’ll create the account to track them in if it doesn’t exist already.

Here are a few of the most common accounts QuickBooks creates for you:

Accounts Payable (A/P): Outstanding bills that your business owes. If you have more than one A/P account, you can pick which one to use when you enter and pay bills.
Accounts Receivable (A/R): Transactions related to customers who owe you money. If you have more than one A/R account, you can pick which one to use when you create an invoice or receive a payment.
Opening Balance Equity: Your starting balance before you enter your company's assets and liabilities.
Payroll Expenses: Payroll items (expenses) for the company, including salaries, wages, bonuses, commissions, company contributions such as health insurance plans.
Payroll Liabilities: Taxes you take from your employees' pay until you give them to the government. These taxes include federal taxes, and the taxes paid by the employee like Medicare.
Retained Earnings: All profits from earlier periods that haven't yet been distributed to owners. At the beginning of the fiscal year, QuickBooks automatically transfers net income into your retained earnings account.
GST/HST Payable: Sales tax you collect and pay. You might not see this account if you haven’t turned on sales tax in QuickBooks.
Uncategorized Expense: Money your business spends that needs to be categorized.
Uncategorized Income: Money your business earned that needs to be categorized.
Undeposited Funds (also called Payments to Deposit): Cash or cheques that your business is ready to deposit at the bank.
Inventory Asset: Your inventor’s current value. You might not see this if you haven’t turned on inventory tracking.
Reconciliation Discrepancies: Reconciliation adjustments. This account is automatically created if you have a discrepancy in a reconciliation.