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Chart of Accounts: An Easy Set Up in Xero

Chart of Accounts

Accounting software like Xero uses the chart of accounts to organise your finances. A good chart should reflect how you do business. In this article we show you how to set up accounts in Xero.

How it works

Xero will assign a default chart of accounts, a list of your organization’s accounts, when you set up your organization. However, you can import a chart of accounts from another accounting system/ software, or setup your custom chart.

In chart of accounts, you can add or edit an account and export or print your chart of accounts.

To view individual transactions, click on the balance of each account.

Chart of accounts and reports

The Account Code and Account Type is used to group similar accounts together and determines how the statements display on your financial reports.

You can customize report layouts and use tracking to compare different areas of your organization.

To view your setup, in the Accounting menu, select Advanced, then click Chart of Accounts.

Add or edit an account in your Chart of Accounts

Add an account

To add a general ledger account to your chart follow these steps. (The process is different from adding a bank, credit card, or PayPal account.)

  1. In the Accounting menu, select Advanced, then click the Chart of accounts.
  2. Click Add Account.
  3. Enter the components of your account.
  4. (Optional) Select the Show on Dashboard Watch list checkbox to display this account on your Xero Dashboard.
  5. (Optional) Select the Show in Expense Claims checkbox to make the report available for classic expense claims. This option does not affect new Expenses.
  6. (Optional) Select the Enable payments to this account checkbox if you want to record payments from this account.
  7. Click Save.

Edit an account

Limited changes can be made to locked and system reports. Follow these steps:

  1. In the Accounting menu, select Advanced, then click the Chart of accounts.
  2. Click on the name of the account to edit the components.
  3. (Optional) Select the Show on Dashboard Watch list check box to display this account on your Xero Dashboard.
  4. (Optional) Select the Show in Expense Claims checkbox to make the account available for classic expense claims. This option does not affect new Expenses
  5. (Optional) Select the Enable payments to this account checkbox if you want to record payments from this account.
  6. Click Save.

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Stuart Reynolds
is the founder of Fullstack Advisory, an award-winning accounting firm for businesses leading the future. He is a 3rd generation accountant who specialises in tech companies, crypto and entrepreneurs.

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