Help1 > Chart of Accounts General Info and 9x_ Tricks
This will introduce you to our Chart of Accounts Tab. This is often times of most interest initially to CPAs and others with prior software experience. Our use of what we call 9x_ accounts is relevant to getting some needed functionality and general ledger functionality out of a spreadsheet application.
The Chart of Accounts in typical double entry bookkeeping software includes Asset Accounts, Liability Accounts, Equity Accounts, Income Accounts and Expense Accounts. This same system applies here.
In Zap Software the "Accounts" are split up into two columns on the "Chart of Accounts" tab. Asset and Liability accounts that will have transaction ledgers are entered into Column A, and Income, Expense, Owner Equity Accounts and other lesser tracked Asset and Liability accounts are entered into Column C.
The categories in columns B and D are used on the Transaction Aggregator tab to manipulate the sign of a transaction for Income Sheet reporting purposes.
The Chart of Accounts in typical double entry bookkeeping software includes Asset Accounts, Liability Accounts, Equity Accounts, Income Accounts and Expense Accounts. This same system applies here.
In Zap Software the "Accounts" are split up into two columns on the "Chart of Accounts" tab. Asset and Liability accounts that will have transaction ledgers are entered into Column A, and Income, Expense, Owner Equity Accounts and other lesser tracked Asset and Liability accounts are entered into Column C.
The categories in columns B and D are used on the Transaction Aggregator tab to manipulate the sign of a transaction for Income Sheet reporting purposes.
Column C -- 9x_ accounts
The 9x_ accounts are where some of the magic happens. This is how you turn a plain old spread sheet into a pseudo (or real) double entry accounting system. Please note, the 9x numberis totally arbitrary... you can do anything you want.
91_paidInCapital -- This is where the first money you deposit into your company may go and you may never use this account again. Leave it in your list for year one and remove it in subsequent year templates if you'd like.
92_ownerDraw -- This applies to those who are filing tax info on Schedule C. I don't think S-Corps allow for owner draws, but I think they allow for distributions, which are basically the same thing. Change the vocabulary as you see fit.
93_dueToJane -- This is an owner liability account. After your first contribution any subsequent contributions you need to make to the company are most typically done as if they were loans from the owners. This would track those deposits. Since this is a template you clear and start new with each year, you will track that year end balance and subsquent changes to that in your balance sheet workbook.
99_transfer -- although not shown here, a 99_transfer account is a powerful account. Since our accounts are NOT truly tied in a double entry bookkeeping sense, when transfers are made from one checking account to another, or from one checking account to a credit card account, we actually have one full, two sided transaction to record in each account. This 99_transfer account is the dummy portion of those transactions. If you look at the transactions in that account after using it, the transactions should always be in matching pairs and that is how you would audit that transfer process. If used, set the 99_transfer account type "ZAPSpecial" just to donate it's unique function. The 99_ account used this way is in fact a general ledger.
98_ccPaymentAchecking/98_ccPaymentBcc -- This takes the 99_transfer concept and blows it into two accounts. I did this because I liked being able to see the totals of each side of the ledger transaction separate on the income statement for quicker visual audit purposes. The liability/asset designations may seem odd and reversed. Look at a record in the Transaction Aggregator and those designations will make more sense. I could have just assigned ZAPSpecial to these as well. I'll be speaking with some CPAs about this solution and this is one of the topics I'm going to dig into. If they have a better suggestion for what I'm doing with this, I'll post those here, but this system does in fact "work" for basic accounting reporting needs and proper cross check and reconciliation needs.
99_reimbursable -- imagine your personal credit card got turned down at the grocery store for some errant reason, and you used your corporate card for the payment. When you enter that transaction you'd enter it as 99_reimbursable. Then, when you transfer money into your Business Account from your personal account, instead of entering that money as income, you'd enter it as 99_reimbursable with a negative sign, and that account would return to zero. In this sense you are actually using this account as a liability account. Designating it as an expense account or liability account doesn't really matter as long as you know what's going on. But here's where it gets a little tricky... If there is a balance in that account at the end of the year, that balance goes on the balance sheet as an Owner Draw!! ( I messed that one up before and it took me some time to figure out what I was doing wrong).
99_uncategorized -- If you aren't sure of a transaction category, just drop it in uncategorized. Consult your your CPA, tax preparer, or internet at a later date, and once you know where they go, re categorize those. It's better to do this than to leave the unknown ones blank as then you can get a total of the uncategorized transactions easily. You should leave this category in the flow of the Income Statement report, although it should be zero by the time you are in fact printing the final report. NOTE: if you have income that you aren't sure what to do with, or negative expenses but you don't handle the sign properly, if you leave this in the flow of your Income Statement reporting, your numbers won't be quite right, but it's a temporary thing.
91_paidInCapital -- This is where the first money you deposit into your company may go and you may never use this account again. Leave it in your list for year one and remove it in subsequent year templates if you'd like.
92_ownerDraw -- This applies to those who are filing tax info on Schedule C. I don't think S-Corps allow for owner draws, but I think they allow for distributions, which are basically the same thing. Change the vocabulary as you see fit.
93_dueToJane -- This is an owner liability account. After your first contribution any subsequent contributions you need to make to the company are most typically done as if they were loans from the owners. This would track those deposits. Since this is a template you clear and start new with each year, you will track that year end balance and subsquent changes to that in your balance sheet workbook.
99_transfer -- although not shown here, a 99_transfer account is a powerful account. Since our accounts are NOT truly tied in a double entry bookkeeping sense, when transfers are made from one checking account to another, or from one checking account to a credit card account, we actually have one full, two sided transaction to record in each account. This 99_transfer account is the dummy portion of those transactions. If you look at the transactions in that account after using it, the transactions should always be in matching pairs and that is how you would audit that transfer process. If used, set the 99_transfer account type "ZAPSpecial" just to donate it's unique function. The 99_ account used this way is in fact a general ledger.
98_ccPaymentAchecking/98_ccPaymentBcc -- This takes the 99_transfer concept and blows it into two accounts. I did this because I liked being able to see the totals of each side of the ledger transaction separate on the income statement for quicker visual audit purposes. The liability/asset designations may seem odd and reversed. Look at a record in the Transaction Aggregator and those designations will make more sense. I could have just assigned ZAPSpecial to these as well. I'll be speaking with some CPAs about this solution and this is one of the topics I'm going to dig into. If they have a better suggestion for what I'm doing with this, I'll post those here, but this system does in fact "work" for basic accounting reporting needs and proper cross check and reconciliation needs.
99_reimbursable -- imagine your personal credit card got turned down at the grocery store for some errant reason, and you used your corporate card for the payment. When you enter that transaction you'd enter it as 99_reimbursable. Then, when you transfer money into your Business Account from your personal account, instead of entering that money as income, you'd enter it as 99_reimbursable with a negative sign, and that account would return to zero. In this sense you are actually using this account as a liability account. Designating it as an expense account or liability account doesn't really matter as long as you know what's going on. But here's where it gets a little tricky... If there is a balance in that account at the end of the year, that balance goes on the balance sheet as an Owner Draw!! ( I messed that one up before and it took me some time to figure out what I was doing wrong).
99_uncategorized -- If you aren't sure of a transaction category, just drop it in uncategorized. Consult your your CPA, tax preparer, or internet at a later date, and once you know where they go, re categorize those. It's better to do this than to leave the unknown ones blank as then you can get a total of the uncategorized transactions easily. You should leave this category in the flow of the Income Statement report, although it should be zero by the time you are in fact printing the final report. NOTE: if you have income that you aren't sure what to do with, or negative expenses but you don't handle the sign properly, if you leave this in the flow of your Income Statement reporting, your numbers won't be quite right, but it's a temporary thing.