Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts screen allows you to enter information for each account that will be part of the Chart of Accounts for your business. These accounts are shared by all entities; there is only one chart of accounts defined for an enterprise.

Compeat provides a default Chart of Accounts that you can use as a starting point to build your Chart of Accounts, if you wish.

Important: Compeat highly discourages setting up separate accounts for different stores. This will have undesirable downstream consequences, as the system is designed to use a single Chart of Accounts across all stores in an enterprise. If you are setting up your chart for the first time, visit the Compeat Support Website for additional information on this topic and more.

Default Chart of Accounts

The first time you open Compeat after installation, you will be asked if you want to create a default Chart of Accounts. If you select Yes, a standard Chart of Accounts will be set up that you can then add to, edit, or delete (as long as there is no history for an account). If you choose not to create the default Chart of Accounts when you first open Compeat and then change your mind, contact Compeat Support for assistance.

Note: The default Chart of Accounts may include accounts that are unfamiliar to you, such as statistical accounts. We recommend that you delete accounts only after determining that they are not relevant to your organization. If you mistakenly delete an account and need to retrieve it, contact Compeat Support.

Account Setup

Accounts can be defined using any description desired. If needed, you can change the account type, statement type, or standard balance.

To set up a Chart of Accounts:

From the Setup, select Chart of Accounts.
Click Add Record .
Enter the account information (described below).
Click Save .
Repeat for the next record.

Click to view/hide picture.

Define the following fields:

Account # The numeric code for the account; the account number can be in any format but cannot exceed 8 characters. Once an account # has been saved it cannot be edited. If an account does not have activity you can delete it and enter the correct number, but once transactions have been posted to this account then you can only make it inactive.
Description The description of the account. This description will be included on financial statements if there is activity in the account.
Account Type The type of account; must be one of the following:
Financial Any account type— whether sales, expenses, assets, liability, or owner's equity— that would appear on your financial statements.
Statistical Any account that records information normally not appearing on standard balance sheets or income statements. Values in statistical accounts would normally appear on other management or operating reports, and can be used as the basis of further calculations. Guest count and check average are examples.
Statement Type The financial statement type of this account; can be one of the following:
Balance Sheet These include asset, liability, and equity accounts. Balance sheet accounts are always viewed on a financial statement as of a specific date, that is, at a point in time. If a balance should carry forward for an account, specify balance sheet.
Profit & Loss (P & L) These include income, expense, and cost of goods sold (COGS) accounts. P & L accounts are always viewed on a financial statement as activity occurring between two dates. If an account should have a zero balance at the beginning of a fiscal year, specify profit & loss.

The financial statement type specified controls how the account is treated by the Close Year utility, and which eXcellent™ Financial Functions are used with the account.

Statement Category The sub-category of the Statement Type specified above (either Balance Sheet or Profit & Loss) that this account will be reported under. The list of available Statement Categories changes depending whether Balance Sheet or Profit & Loss is selected above. If Statement Category is left blank, the account will not appear on Compeat's pre-defined Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss reports (available from the Reports menu > Accounting submenu > Financial Statements). Compeat comes with standard categories predefined, but these can be modified or augmented as needed under the Statement Categories screen.

Important: If the account is used to pay dividends, the statement category must be set to "Dividends" prior to closing the year. Failure to do so will cause the Close Year procedure to produce erroneous results.

Standard Balance In accounting, the five account types have debit or credit balances. Indicate the standard balance for the account being created; can be one of the following:
Credit Typically used for sales, liability, and owner's equity accounts.
Debit Typically used for asset and expense accounts.
External Account # If you are using accounting software other than Compeat's, you must enter, if different, the account number that corresponds to the Compeat account number.
Active Uncheck this box to de-activate an account you are no longer using. If an account is not active, it cannot be selected on the AP Invoices, Manual Checks, General Journals, or almost any other screen in Compeat.
Apply Currency Ex The Consolidate feature will apply the currency exchange rate only to statistical accounts that are checked. Values such as guest counts normally should not be affected by an exchange rate. Statistical accounts that record monetary values should be checked. Non-monetary statistical accounts should not be checked. Only Statistical accounts are affected by this field.