Why You Need a Chart of Accounts

A chart of accounts is the foundation of your financial system. It’s a complete list of every category where money can come from or go to. Without a well-organized chart of accounts:

• You can’t track where money is being spent
• Reports become meaningless
• Budget comparisons are impossible
• Audits become nightmares

BeeKeeper creates a standard chart of accounts for PTAs when you sign up, but you can customize it to match your organization’s needs.

Understanding Account Types

Assets (What You Own)

Assets are things of value your organization possesses:

Normal Balance: Debit (increases with debits)

Liabilities (What You Owe)

Liabilities are obligations to pay:

Normal Balance: Credit (increases with credits)

Equity (Net Worth)

Equity represents accumulated value:

Normal Balance: Credit (increases with credits)

Income (Money Coming In)

Income accounts track revenue sources:

Normal Balance: Credit (increases with credits)

Expenses (Money Going Out)

Expense accounts track spending:

Normal Balance: Debit (increases with debits)

Managing Your Accounts

Viewing Accounts

1. Go to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts from the sidebar (admin only)
2. Use the By Type tab (the default view) to see accounts grouped by type, with Income and Expense columns first, followed by Assets, Liabilities, and Equity
3. Use the By Group tab to see your Income and Expense accounts organized into the Account Groups you’ve set up (see Account Groups below). Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts always appear under By Type only, since they can’t belong to a group.
4. Within each type or group, accounts are sorted alphabetically by name. If your organization shows account codes, accounts are sorted by code first, then name instead. New organizations start with codes hidden and sorting alphabetical - an admin can turn codes on in Organization Settings (see [Organization Settings](organization-settings))
5. Each account shows its name (and code, if your organization shows codes); if the account has a description, hover the info icon to see it
6. Use the Actions menu to Import accounts from a spreadsheet, or Export Accounts to download your whole chart of accounts as an Excel (.xlsx) file

To see account balances, visit Bookkeeping > Banking (for bank and balance-sheet accounts) or open an individual account’s detail page.

Creating a New Account

1. Click Add Account
2. Select the Account Type first - BeeKeeper will auto-fill the next available account code for that type (rounded to the nearest 10)
3. Fill in the remaining fields:
   • Name: Descriptive name (e.g., “Spring Carnival Income”)
   • Code: Auto-suggested, but you can customize (only shown if your organization shows account codes)
   • Group (Income/Expense accounts only, once you’ve created at least one group): Assigns the account to an Account Group
   • Available for expense reports (Expense accounts only): Checked by default. Uncheck it to hide this account from the category picker on expense reports (both the website and the ReimburseBee mobile app) - handy for expense accounts, like a reserve fund, that shouldn’t be picked on an everyday reimbursement. The account still works everywhere else in BeeKeeper.
   • Form 990 Line (optional): Map to a specific Form 990-EZ line for tax reporting
4. Click Save

Editing an Account

1. On the Chart of Accounts page, click the pencil icon next to the account
2. Make your changes in the Edit Account window
3. Click Save

Note: You cannot change an account’s type after creation. This ensures the integrity of your financial records.

Account Detail Page

Each account has a detail page showing:

• Transactions: All journal entries affecting this account, sorted by date with running balance
• Needs Review: If a bank account, shows imported transactions pending review (see [Imported Transactions](imported-transactions))
• Reconcile: Bank reconciliation interface (see [Bank Reconciliation](reconciliation))
• Import: Upload transactions from QFX, OFX, CSV, or XLSX files
• New Transaction: Quick form to record a simple transaction directly

Transfer Funds

Move money between accounts without manually creating journal entries:

1. Go to Bookkeeping
2. Click Transfer Funds
3. Select the From account and To account
4. Enter the amount
5. Click Save

This creates a balanced journal entry automatically.

Archiving an Account

When an account is no longer needed:

1. Edit the account (pencil icon)
2. Check the Archive box
3. Click Save

Archived accounts:

• Don’t appear in dropdown menus
• Preserve historical transactions
• Can be restored if needed

Merging Accounts

If you’ve ended up with duplicate or overlapping Income or Expense accounts (e.g., two accounts for the same fundraiser), you can merge one into the other instead of manually recategorizing every transaction:

1. Open the account you want to get rid of (the source account)
2. From the Actions menu, choose Merge
3. Select the account to merge it into (must be the same type - Income into Income, Expense into Expense - and active)
4. Confirm the merge

Merging moves every transaction, rule, budget line, vendor default, and other reference from the source account over to the target account, then permanently deletes the source account. This cannot be undone. Only Income and Expense accounts can be merged, and required system accounts (like Uncategorized Expense) can’t be merged or be a merge source.

Deleting an Account

BeeKeeper checks whether anything depends on an account before letting you delete it. From the account’s detail page, choose Delete from the Actions menu to see a pre-flight check listing anything that’s blocking deletion, with a count and a link to review each item:

• Transactions (journal entries)
• Reconciliations
• Received Funds
• Checks
• Budget items
• Budget amendment items
• FutureFund fund connections (catch-all account or campaign mappings)
• Expense items
• Organization membership settings (e.g., the account is set as the membership income or withholding account)

If any of these apply, deletion is blocked and the window offers Archive Instead as the recommended alternative - archiving preserves history while removing the account from dropdowns. Only when none of these apply can the account be permanently deleted; you’ll see a simple confirmation instead. (On the Chart of Accounts list itself, the trash icon only appears for accounts with zero transactions, as a shortcut for quick cleanup - accounts with any of the other blockers above still need the full pre-flight check from the account detail page.)

Account Groups

Account Groups let you organize related Income and Expense accounts together, independent of account type - for example, grouping “Spring Auction Income” and “Spring Auction Expenses” under a single “Spring Auction” group so you can see the whole picture on the By Group tab. Only Income and Expense accounts can belong to a group; Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts are not groupable.

Creating and Managing Groups

1. On the Chart of Accounts page, click Manage Groups
2. The first time, click Add Group to create your first group
3. Afterward, click the + tile to add another group, and rename a group in place using its column
4. Drag accounts between group columns (or back to Ungrouped) to assign or reassign them - changes save automatically
5. Deleting a group moves its accounts back to Ungrouped; it does not delete the accounts themselves

Assigning an Account to a Group

Besides dragging accounts on the Manage Groups board, you can assign a group when creating or editing an Income or Expense account: choose a group from the Group field on the account form (this field only appears once you’ve created at least one group). Bulk imports can also assign accounts to a group by including a Group column in the import file - matching group names are reused, and new group names are created automatically.

Hiding an Account from Expense Reports

Every Expense account is Available for expense reports by default, meaning it shows up in the category picker whenever someone submits or approves an expense report - on the website and in the ReimburseBee mobile app. If you have an expense account that should never be chosen there (say, a reserve or restricted-use account that’s only ever touched through a manual journal entry), edit the account and uncheck Available for expense reports. The account stays fully active for everything else - journal entries, budgets, reports - it just won’t appear as a category choice on an expense report. This setting only applies to Expense accounts; it’s not offered (and can’t be turned off) for Asset, Liability, Equity, or Income accounts, since those aren’t expense categories to begin with.

Account Codes

Account codes help organize and sort your accounts. Common schemes:

BeeKeeper auto-suggests codes when you create accounts (rounded to the nearest 10 within the type range), but you can customize them. Codes are helpful for:

• Sorting accounts in reports
• Mapping to Form 990-EZ categories
• Matching your previous system

By default, new organizations don’t display account codes and sort accounts alphabetically instead - codes are still assigned behind the scenes so they’re ready if you turn code display on later. An admin can enable Show Account Codes in Organization Settings (see [Organization Settings](organization-settings)) to display codes throughout the app and switch sorting to code-then-name.

Tips for a Clean Chart of Accounts

Keep It Simple

• Don’t create an account for every possible expense
• Group similar items (e.g., “Office Supplies” not “Pens”, “Paper”, “Staples”)
• You can always add detail in transaction descriptions

Use Consistent Naming

• Start expense accounts with the category: “Program - Art Enrichment”
• Use the same format throughout: “Fundraiser - Spring Auction” not “Spring Auction Fundraiser”

Plan for Reports

• Think about what you want to see on your Profit & Loss
• Create accounts that match your budget line items
• Consider what your board needs to review

Year-End Best Practices

• Review accounts before the new fiscal year
• Archive any accounts no longer needed
• Add new accounts for planned activities

The "Uncategorized" Account

BeeKeeper automatically creates an “Uncategorized Expense” account. It is used as a fallback when:

• An approved expense item has no category assigned
• A matching rule (or its vendor) has no target account set

Unmatched bank imports are not sent here automatically - they stay in the Needs Review queue until you categorize and accept them.

Best Practice: Regularly review uncategorized transactions and assign them to proper accounts.

Limitations

• Account codes must be unique within your organization; duplicate names are allowed (the bulk import skips duplicate names of the same type)
• Account type cannot be changed after creation
• Cannot delete accounts with transactions, reconciliations, received funds, checks, budget/amendment items, fund connections, expense items, or membership settings pointing to them (archive instead, or clear/reassign those items first)
• Only Income and Expense accounts can be merged or grouped; Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts cannot
• “Available for expense reports” only applies to (and can only be turned off for) Expense accounts

Common Questions

Can I rename an account? Yes, renaming an account updates all historical transactions.

What happens if I archive an account with a balance? Archived accounts are hidden from dropdown menus, and most reports (Profit & Loss, Treasurer’s Report, General Ledger, Form 990) exclude them entirely. However, the Trial Balance and Balance Sheet still include an archived account if it carries a balance, so those two reports continue to balance correctly. If you want an account fully out of every report, transfer or zero out its balance before archiving.

Can I merge two accounts? Yes, for Income and Expense accounts - see Merging Accounts above. Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts cannot be merged.

Can I have sub-accounts? Not currently. Use naming conventions like “Fundraising - Event Name” to group related accounts, or use an Account Group to roll several accounts together in the By Group view.

How do I fix a transaction in the wrong account? Edit the journal entry and change the account assignment.

How do I stop an account from showing up when someone submits an expense report? Edit the account and uncheck Available for expense reports. It’s an Expense-account-only setting, checked by default, and doesn’t affect anything besides the expense report category picker.