Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts lists a set of default accounts that can be used in your business, grouped into categories like Income, Expenses, Equity, Liabilities, and Assets. Each account helps track financial transactions accurately. If you need accounts apart from the default list of accounts, you can create them. If you’re unsure how to customize accounts for your business, consult your accountant.

Default Account Types in Chart of Accounts

Account Category Default Account Types
Assets Other Asset, Other Current Assets, Cash, Bank, Fixed Asset, Stock, Payment Clearing and Accounts Receivable.
Liability Other Current Liability, Credit Card, Long Term Liability, Other Liability, Overseas Tax Payable and Accounts Payable.
Equity Equity
Income Income and Other Income
Expense Expense

Create a New Account

To track transaction amounts under a specific account, you can manually create a new account instead of using the default ones. Here’s how:

You can now use this account to track transactions.

Import Chart of Accounts

If you have account details stored locally or you are migrating from another accounting system, you can easily import them into Zoho Books. Here’s how:

Notes:

  • You can only import files in CSV, TSV, and XLS formats.
  • File size must not exceed 10 MB.

Pro Tip: You can download and use the sample file as a reference for the format, and fill it with the data you want to import, if needed.

The accounts from your file are now imported into Zoho Books.

Other Actions in Chart of Accounts

Edit an Account

Attach Files to an Account

You can attach invoices, receipts, contracts, or tax records to an account to keep everything organized and accessible for reference or auditing. Here’s how:

Once attached, you can easily access these files for internal purposes.

Mark an Account as Inactive

Warning: You can only mark accounts you created manually as inactive. The default accounts cannot be marked as inactive.

If you don’t need an account right now, you can mark it as inactive instead of deleting it. Here’s how:

The selected account is now inactive.

Note: To mark an account as active again, follow the same steps as above, and click Mark as Active from the dropdown.

Export Chart of Accounts

If you need to back up your data, migrate to another accounting system, or share records with your accountant, you can export the Chart of Accounts from Zoho Books. Here’s how:

The file is downloaded to your device, containing the accounts with your selected preferences.

Export Current View of Chart of Accounts

To export the Chart of Accounts with its visible columns as they are:

The file is downloaded to your device, containing the accounts in the same order as they appear on the Chart of Accounts page.

Mark Accounts in Bulk as Inactive

Warning: You can only mark accounts you create manually as inactive. System default accounts cannot be marked as inactive.

To mark multiple accounts as inactive at once:

The selected accounts are now inactive.

Note: To mark multiple accounts as active again, follow the same steps as above, and click Mark as Active from the dropdown.

Delete an Account

Warning: You can only delete accounts you’ve created manually. System default accounts cannot be deleted.

Prerequisite: You cannot delete an account if it’s associated with any transactions in Zoho Books. Either update the transactions to use another account or delete the transactions individually before you proceed with the deletion.

The account is now deleted.

Also Read:

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