Chart of Accounts

A chart of accounts provides the structure for your general ledger accounts. It lists specific types of accounts, describes each account, and includes account numbers. A chart of accounts typically lists asset accounts first, followed by liability and capital accounts, and then by revenue and expense accounts.

To design your chart of accounts, begin your initial design with the major headings of your transactions. Then add your detailed transaction descriptions.

This example shows types of accounts and their associated headings:

Account	Headings
Balance Sheet Accounts	Types of headings for balance sheets include: Assets Liabilities Owner's Equity
Income Statement Accounts	Types of headings for income statements include: Revenues Expenses

Account

Headings

Balance Sheet Accounts

Types of headings for balance sheets include:

Assets
Liabilities
Owner's Equity

Income Statement Accounts

Types of headings for income statements include:

Revenues
Expenses

After you have a complete list of transaction descriptions, you can assign numeric values to each description. Allow for growth and change by leaving spaces in the account structure.

Define the last balance sheet account as the account for year-to-date net income or loss. Balance sheet accounts must precede income statement accounts. For example, if revenues begin at 5000, define object 4999 as the net income account. This account must be a nonposting account. The system calculates the net income amount on your balance sheet.

Note: If your balance sheet accounts do not precede your income statement accounts, your financial reports might contain unreliable results.

You are not limited to one account format when you enter data. An account can have the formats described in this table:

Format	Usage
Short account ID	This number is created by the Next Numbers program when you add accounts. It is commonly referred to as the short account number and can never be changed.
Business Unit.Object.Subsidiary	This is the standard JD Edwards EnterpriseOne account format. It can be in either of these formats: Business unit.object Business unit.object.subsidiary The business unit designates the accounting entity to charge. The object (or object and subsidiary) designates the type of account to receive the amount, such as asset, liability, revenue, and expense.
Third G/L account number	This number consists of a free-form code, often called the third account number. Typically, the account number from a prior system is used as the third account number. No limitations exist for the characters that you can use, for example,. and - are acceptable.

Format

Usage

Short account ID

This number is created by the Next Numbers program when you add accounts. It is commonly referred to as the short account number and can never be changed.

Business Unit.Object.Subsidiary

This is the standard JD Edwards EnterpriseOne account format. It can be in either of these formats:

Business unit.object
Business unit.object.subsidiary

The business unit designates the accounting entity to charge. The object (or object and subsidiary) designates the type of account to receive the amount, such as asset, liability, revenue, and expense.

Third G/L account number

This number consists of a free-form code, often called the third account number. Typically, the account number from a prior system is used as the third account number. No limitations exist for the characters that you can use, for example,. and - are acceptable.

To enter account numbers in a format other than the standard JD Edwards EnterpriseOne format, you must use the prefix character that is defined in general accounting constants.