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Set Up or Change the Chart of Accounts

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The chart of accounts (COA) shows the ledger accounts that store your financial data. Business Central includes a standard COA that is ready to support your business. You can, however, change the default accounts, and you can add new accounts.

Add or change accounts

From the COA, you can open each general ledger (G/L) account and add or change settings. Hover over a field to read a short description.

If necessary, you can use more than one line for a general ledger account name. On the G/L Account Card page, in the Account group, choose Extended Texts, and then fill in one or more lines with the account name and copied text.

For accounts of the Total account type, you must fill in the Totaling field. For End-Total accounts, this field is filled in automatically by the Indent function. After you have set up all the accounts, choose the Process action, then choose Indent Chart of Accounts.

Important

If you have entered definitions in the Totaling fields for End-Total accounts before executing the indent function, you must enter them again because the function overwrites the values in all End-Total fields.

Delete accounts

You can delete a general ledger account. However, before you delete it, the following must be true:

  • The balance on the account must be zero.
  • The Allow G/L Acc. Deletion Before field must be set on the General Ledger Setup page, and the account must not have ledger entries on or after that date.
  • If the Check G/L Account Usage field on the General Ledger Setup page is selected, the account must not be used in any posting groups or posting setup.

Business Central prevents you from deleting a general ledger account that stores data that is needed in the chart of accounts.

You can also specify when to allow people to delete accounts. On the General Ledger Setup page, the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts toggle works together with the date in the Check G/L Acc. Deletion After field to act as an extra validation. If you turn on the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts toggle, you can't delete G/L accounts with ledger entries after the date in the Check G/L Acc. Deletion After field. To delete such an account, someone with access to the General Ledger Setup page must turn off the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts toggle.

Turning on the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts field is often a best practice, as is setting the date in the Check G/L Acc. Deletion After field, for example, to the date through which regulations require you to store finance data.

Video guidance

This video shows how to specify whether, and when, people can delete G/L accounts.

See Also

The General Ledger and the Chart of Accounts
Reconciling Bank Accounts
Work with Dimensions
Importing Data from Other Finance Systems
Work with Financial Reports
Work with Business Central
Close Income Statement Accounts in the French Version
Print Income Statements in the Australian Version
Print Income Statements in the New Zealand Version
Set Up and Close Income Statement Balances in the Spanish Version
Indent and Validate the Chart of Accounts in the Spanish Version

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