Chart of account

Duilleog · ‎August 09, 2022

Hi All,

I'm in a trial with QB right now.

Trying to set up a COA.

1. Can't find a way to see the pre-existing numbers or lists of accounts created by QB. Is there a way to see this? (none of the articles I've found or been referred to are any help).

2. The instructions about 'turning on numbers' within the COA to see what accounts QB has randomly assigned to my transactions/vendors do not actually follow the way the website works. Eg, batch edit, show numbers. The only numbers which can be turned 'on' are VAT numbers, NOT coa numbers.

I'd appreciate your help.

JenoP · ‎August 09, 2022

Allow me to join the conversation and answer your questions about COA in QBO, Duilleog

The initial list of accounts in your Chart of Accounts depends on the type of industry you selected when you first set up your QBO account. The details that you associated with your vendors do not impact how many or what accounts are created.

We are also not able to provide suggestions on what model to select since we don't have the information related to the type of business that you have. Instead, follow these steps on how to select the industry in QBO:

Go to the Gear icon and select Account and settings.
Proceed to the Company tab and look for Company type.
Click the drop-down list for Tax form and select the right category.
Type in the industry that you belong in the Industry field.
Choose Save, then click Done.

With your second question, QBO has default and special accounts. This includes the Undeposited Funds, Retained Earnings, Stock Assets, and Sales of Product Income. Please note that these accounts can not be deleted or made inactive regardless of the industry selected. They will not be affected as well even if you import your own list of accounts.

On another note, the account numbers are not automatically populated. This is the reason why there are no details when you followed the steps for COA account numbers. You will need to manually assign them using the Batch Edit feature that's indicated in the screenshot that you shared.

I'll be sharing these articles with you for additional references and guidance:

Let me know if that answers your questions about managing the list of accounts. I'd be glad to offer my help again if you need it.

View solution in original post

GeorgiaC · ‎August 09, 2022

Hi Duilleog, the list of default accounts generated in the CoA is dependent on the business-type selected during the initial set-up, there are no articles which list these. You can turn on account numbers by navigating to the Cog > Account and settings > Advanced > Chart of accounts > Enable account numbers > Toggle on. Please get back to us below if you have any further Q's.

Duilleog · ‎August 09, 2022

Hello Georgia,

thanks for your email.

However, that doesn't work. I have toggled 'on', but the numbers aren't showing.

Duilleog · ‎August 09, 2022

Also, these follow-on instructions also don't work.......

Duilleog · ‎August 09, 2022

It's quite unhelpful that QB randomly decides what kind of COA it assumes I'll want. I uploaded a spreadsheet of 400 suppliers, and QB thinks I only need 10 entries in my COA?

1. Is there a way to stop this happening? Eg, if I upload my own COA first, does this stop QB creating an ah-hoc COA? I didn't upload my own COA as I assumed this would cause chaos between my list and QB's list.

2. Since I'm still at the start-up stage......I can delete everything and start again. So my question is: what's the best business model to create a COA with approx 60 types/sub-accounts.

Thank you.

AlcaeusF · ‎August 09, 2022

Hi @Duilleog,

Thank you for choosing QuickBooks Online. Allow me to chime in and provide clarification about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

When you create your account, QuickBooks automatically customises your chart of accounts based on your business entity. These are default accounts the system enters on your behalf.

There are default or special accounts that can be deleted, edited, or merged only. To learn more about it, I suggest checking out this article: Manage default and special accounts in your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts.

To answer your first question, the option to stop this from happening is unavailable. You'll need to mark them as inactive manually from the system.

For the business model, the best option would be to choose the closest one related to your business. QuickBooks defaults to creating initial accounts for all QuickBooks users.

I know how beneficial being able to create the necessary accounts for your business from scratch. However, the behavior you need for QuickBooks isn't available yet.

For now, I encourage sending your feedback directly to our product engineers. They might consider this option in future updates.

Here's how:

Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner.
Select Feedback under Profile.
Share your feedback.
Hit Next to submit.

In your chart of accounts, you can also add a subaccount. For more details on adding it under a parent account in QuickBooks, I recommend you visit this link: Create subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need more guidance in managing the chart of accounts or navigating QuickBooks. I'll be around to help out. Have a great day.

Duilleog · ‎August 09, 2022

Hi,

thanks for your email.

However, my questions remain unanswered:

what is the best business model to suggest to prompt QB to create as many COA accounts as possible? QB only created approx 15 COA accounts for me, even though I uploaded hundreds of vendors which included lots of details about what they do.
if I import my own COA before I import vendors/transactions, does this stop QB from imposing its own COA system on me automatically?

Thank you.

JenoP · ‎August 09, 2022

Allow me to join the conversation and answer your questions about COA in QBO, Duilleog

The initial list of accounts in your Chart of Accounts depends on the type of industry you selected when you first set up your QBO account. The details that you associated with your vendors do not impact how many or what accounts are created.

We are also not able to provide suggestions on what model to select since we don't have the information related to the type of business that you have. Instead, follow these steps on how to select the industry in QBO:

Go to the Gear icon and select Account and settings.
Proceed to the Company tab and look for Company type.
Click the drop-down list for Tax form and select the right category.
Type in the industry that you belong in the Industry field.
Choose Save, then click Done.

With your second question, QBO has default and special accounts. This includes the Undeposited Funds, Retained Earnings, Stock Assets, and Sales of Product Income. Please note that these accounts can not be deleted or made inactive regardless of the industry selected. They will not be affected as well even if you import your own list of accounts.

On another note, the account numbers are not automatically populated. This is the reason why there are no details when you followed the steps for COA account numbers. You will need to manually assign them using the Batch Edit feature that's indicated in the screenshot that you shared.

I'll be sharing these articles with you for additional references and guidance:

Let me know if that answers your questions about managing the list of accounts. I'd be glad to offer my help again if you need it.

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