Chart of Accounts

Overview

Chart of Accounts is a list of all the accounts that your company identifies and makes available for recording transactions in its general ledger. A company has the flexibility to tailor its chart of accounts to best suit its needs. The accounts vary from one industry to another. When a new company is created, BQE CORE offers you a pre-filled chart of accounts to use for your business. After selecting a template, you can add, edit, or delete accounts to customize it further. Click to watch this video on creating accounts in CORE.

Chart of Accounts are generally parent accounts with sub-accounts under them. Some account types are fiscal year-to-date and others are from inception. You can create balance sheet accounts like asset, liability and equity (for example, bank, A/R, credit card and retainer) that never reset or non-balance sheet accounts called profit and loss accounts (say, income and expense) that are year-to-date and reset. Balance sheet accounts have a running balance.

From the functionality viewpoint, the Chart of Accounts screen is used to set up general ledger accounts, check the debit, credit and running balances of accounts, view registers and reconcile accounts. It displays a list of active accounts. You can look into the detailed registers that itemize each transaction, thus allowing you to track possible mistakes.

There are primarily five accounts under two account types, which can further have their own sub-accounts.

Type	Account	Sub-Account
Balance Sheet Accounts	Assets	Bank, Other Current Asset, A/R, Fixed Asset, Other Asset, etc.
	Liabilities	A/P, Credit Card, etc.
	Equity	Retained Earnings, Dividends, etc.
Non-Balance Sheet Accounts/ Profit & Loss Accounts	Income	Income, Other Income, Sales Revenue, etc.
	Expense	Expense, Other Expense, Depreciation, G&A, etc.

Note: You can get a visual overview of this feature in CORE from the General Accounting flowchart. You can also check the Account FAQs here.

Field Descriptions

How To

Create New Accounts

Edit Accounts

Create Trust Fund Accounts

Add Custom Fields

Add Documents

Send Accounts

Use Account Registers

Reconcile Accounts

Merge Accounts

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Expand/Collapse Sub-Accounts

Export Chart of Accounts

View Reports

Apply Filters

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Field Name	Field Description
Chart of Accounts > List View >
Balance	This represents the balance amount for the account. Parent account balance includes the balances of its sub-accounts when the accounts are being displayed in a hierarchical manner.
Status	Indicates whether an account is active or not. You can choose to include inactive accounts in the list by checking the option Show Inactive Accounts from the Chart of Accounts in User Settings > Display Options.
Chart of Accounts > Add Account >
Type	The type or category of account. There are primarily five types of accounts: asset, liability, equity, income and expense. If Trust Fund Accounting is enabled, you can also have a Bank (IOLTA) or Trust Fund account type. A Bank IOLTA account is a checking account that earns interest on the funds in the account. The interest is given to the state's IOLTA board because attorneys or lawyers cannot keep the interest earned on the client's money.
Bank Account Number	If you are creating a bank account in the Chart of Accounts, this is your actual bank account number.
Account Number	Number associated with an account. However, it is not the actual account number, but rather the Chart of Accounts number in CORE.
Sub-Account of	Sub-accounts must match the account type of the parent account.
Restrict Posting to Parent Account	Allows you to restrict direct posting to parent-level accounts to help control whether parent accounts can be posted to or if they should be used as solely a placeholder for sub-accounts. You can enable or disable this option, as needed.
Tax Line	Each account can be mapped to a tax line number used in preparing a tax return. This is needed only if you prepare your company's tax return using an accounting software that integrates with CORE, such as QuickBooks.
Cost Pool	Cost pool or center is a set of costs that are incurred on a specific group of activities, expenses, or any business center. In CORE, you can create cost pools and assign them to the income and expense accounts.
IRS Form 1099 Category	Allows you to assign relevant accounts to the appropriate categories for IRS Form 1099 reporting, such as 1099-MISC (e.g., Rents, Royalties, Other Income) or 1099-NEC (e.g., Non-Employee Compensation).
Trust Liability Account	In case of Trust Fund Accounting, you must specify a liability account for account type Bank (IOLTA). When trust funds are deposited into the trust fund account, they are owed to the client until earned. The client’s trust funds are recorded as a liability on the balance sheet. It can be any Other Current Liability account.
BSB Number	Bank State Branch (BSB) is a 6-digit routing number that represents a bank code used to identify a branch of an Australian bank or financial institution. It is required to make or receive a funds transfer. The format of the BSB code is XXY-ZZZ. The first two digits (XX) specify the bank or financial institution where the money is being sent, while the third digit (Y) tells which state the branch is located in. The last three digits (ZZZ) specify the address of the branch. This option is available only for bank accounts and on Australia and New Zealand regional settings.
APCA Number	It is a 6-digit unique identifier of banks used for direct debit payments done via ABA files. Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), now known as Australian Payments Network Limited (AusPayNet), is the official issuer and custodian of BSB numbers and administers the payment systems in Australia. This option is available only for bank accounts and on Australia and New Zealand regional settings.
Bank Code	A bank code is a unique identifier for each bank. It is a code assigned by a central bank, supervisory body or bankers association in a country to its licensed member banks or financial institutions. This option is available only for bank accounts and on Australia and New Zealand regional settings.
Chart of Accounts > Reconcile Accounts >
Statement Date	To reconcile your CORE account with a corresponding statement, you must select the statement's end date.
Statement Balance	This is the ending balance of the statement being reconciled, say of a bank or credit card statement. Statement balance resets to zero (0) if we cancel the reconciliation. Typically,   Statement Balance = Beginning Balance + Deposits - Payments and Withdrawals
Service Charge	While reconciling your bank accounts, you must provide details about any expenses incurred. Your bank statement lists bank service charges such as standard monthly charges. When reconciling trust fund accounts, CORE ignores this charge, even if you enter some amount here.
Interest Charge	While reconciling your bank accounts, you must provide details about any income earned. Your bank statement lists the amount of interest earned on your account. If you select an account other than income or expense here, it creates a transfer or deposit entry in the Deposits section of Reconciliations. When reconciling trust fund accounts, CORE ignores this charge, even if you enter some amount here.
Reconciliations: Period	Allows you to control the date range of entries that appear on the grid for reconciliation. It defaults to the As Of statement date, but can be changed. All the entries as well as the summary values at the top of the grid follow the selected period.
Cleared Balance	Displays the running balance from all your cleared transactions. The Cleared Balance is zero when you begin a reconciliation session for the first time. For subsequent reconciliations, it displays the total from previously cleared transactions. Typically, it is the same as the Beginning Balance and is different only if there are any charges associated with the reconciliation. For bank accounts, the calculations are: Cleared Balance = Beginning Balance + Interest Charge - Service Charge + Deposits Cleared in the session - Payments Cleared in the session For credit cards, the calculations are: Cleared Balance = Beginning Balance + Finance Charge + Payments Cleared in the session

 

Create New Accounts

To create a new account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Create New Account on the top-right.
3. On the Add Account screen, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Type: or category of account
   • Name
   • Bank Account Number
   • Account Number: it is not the actual bank account number, but rather the Chart of Accounts number in CORE.
   • Status
4. You can enter other information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   
   • Sub-Account of
   • Cost Pool
   • Restrict Posting to Parent Account
   • IRS Form 1099 Category
     
     
5. Click Save & Done or Save & Add Another.

Edit Account

You can view, enter, and edit account details in the detail mode. However, you cannot delete accounts that have transactions; if no longer needed, make them inactive instead.

To edit an account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select all accounts on the grid that you want to delete and click Actions > Delete. Alternatively, you can use the row-action menu to delete them individually.
3. In the list view, click on the account row that you want to edit and select Detail.
   
   
4. On the Edit Account > General screen, enter more details or make changes, as needed.
5. Click Save & Done.

Create Trust Fund Accounts

In some situations, professionals hold money in trust funds for their beneficiary clients. The legal industry (including attorneys, lawyers, paralegals) typically use interest-bearing trust fund accounts to hold the client retainers or settlements on the client's behalf. So, the legal industry has an obligation to follow well-laid out conventions to manage the clients' trust funds. These funds are separate from their firm's own funds (called operative banks accounts) as they belong to their clients, and they are only holding them in 'trust' as a fiduciary. This means that attorneys and lawyers can only spend the funds in a manner that conforms with the laws and regulations. So, lawyers who receive the trust funds must place them in a trust fund account that can be a separate bank or deposit account (Bank IOLTA) in which the money is owned by your client, managed by your company and can be used to pay off your client's liability.

A Bank IOLTA account is a checking account that earns interest on the funds in the account. The interest is given to the state's IOLTA board because attorneys or lawyers cannot keep the interest earned on the client's money.  Some trust fund accounts are created under the company's Tax ID while some are under the client’s Tax ID. Interest accrued on those with company's Tax ID is paid to the state.

You can create multiple trust fund accounts of the type Bank (IOLTA) for your clients to track the amount of funds you receive from them. Along with that, you must also have a trust fund liability account to track all the accounting. You need to decide whether to assign a separate trust account to each client project (matter) or a single account to multiple matters. We recommend maintaining a separate trust fund account and liability account for each client’s matter. This ensures that each trust fund’s transactions are well-maintained and easily reported.

To create a new trust fund account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Click Create New Account on the top-right.
3. On the Add Account screen, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Type: Bank (IOLTA)
   • Name
   • Account Number
   • Trust Liability Account
     
     
     
     
4. You can enter other information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Sub-Account of
   • Cost Pool
5. Click Save & Done.

The trust fund is created for your client. However, you cannot specify an opening balance for this account because all its transaction should be linked to a project. So, you can enter the opening balance for this account from the Payments screen by recording a payment as 'Accept as Trust Fund'.

Add Custom Fields

Using custom fields, you can track extra characteristics and attributes of your accounts. You can enter any information (up to 50 characters) about the account. You can even customize these fields in the Custom Labels screen.

To add a custom field, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. In the list view, select an account on the grid and click to select Detail.
3. On the Edit Account screen, go to the Custom Fields tab.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Add Custom Field and select the type of field you want depending on the purpose, say Text Box.
5. On the Add Text Box dialog, enter the required information:
   • Name
   • Type
   • # of Characters
6. Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid. Click Save.

Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.

You can also check the detailed video on managing custom fields in CORE.

Add Documents

To add a document to a client record, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.

2. In the list view, select an account on the grid and click  to select Detail.

3. On the Edit Account screen, go to the Documents tab and click Add.
   
   
   
   

4. On the Add Documents dialog, select the relevant tab, depending on the type of attachment.

   • Computer: To attach files stored on your computer, enter its Description and drag your file or click to browse to that location.

   • Hyperlink: To attach an external link, enter its Description and then insert the hyperlink.

   • Dropbox: To link files stored in your Dropbox account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Google Drive: To link files stored in your Google Drive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • OneDrive: To link files stored in your Microsoft OneDrive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Box: To link files stored in your Box account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Resource Library: To link company resources, select the resource from the library. This is available in CORE CRM only.

5. Click Add.

CORE pre-fills some of the information about the attached documents in the grid. You can send the documents to your clients, employees or other contacts for getting their digital or electronic signatures (eSignature via DocuSign) using the eSign option from the row-action menu. CORE automatically adds the signed documents to the Documents folder of the entity (record) as separate attachments. It displays the status of the document, whether it has been delivered via DocuSign, viewed by the recipients, declined or completed by the recipients, etc. This column does not show up if you are not connected via the DocuSign integration. You can also check the detailed video on managing documents in CORE.

Send Accounts

In CORE, you can send the chart of accounts to your accounting program, such as QuickBooks Online, Xero and MYOB AccountRight.

To send an account to your accounting program, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   

2. In the list view, click on the account row that you want to send and select Detail.

3. On the Edit Account screen, click Actions > Send To on the top-right.

4. Select the relevant option from the drop-down, say QuickBooks. Your data is sent.

CORE allows you to send accounts to QuickBooks using the Send to QuickBooks option from the row-action menu in the list view. You can send a maximum of 25 records from the chart of account list to QuickBooks without having to drill down into the detail view. CORE displays a progress bar when sending these records to QuickBooks.

Use Account Registers

Balance Sheet accounts have a register associated with them. You cannot, however, open a register for inactive accounts.

To view an account register, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click Use Register on the account row whose register you want to view. You can also open it from the detail view.
3. On the Registers screen, you can see the transaction details of the account and create new transactions. Check Registers for details.

Reconcile Accounts

You can perform reconciliation on any bank or credit card account using this option. However, you cannot reconcile the system accounts (with account numbers 12000, 12010, 3900 and 2200) and tax accounts (with account numbers 25100, 25200, 25300 and 25400).

To reconcile an account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the account row that you want to reconcile and select Reconcile. You can also do it from the detail view. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
3. On the Reconcile Accounts dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Statement Date:  statement's end date.
   • Statement Balance: ending balance of the statement being reconciled
   • Service Charge, Date and Account
   • Interest Charge, Date and Account
     
     
     
     
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Reconciliations screen, you can sort the columns by date or amount to save time in searching for records for reconciliation. You can also select the relevant date range from the Period drop-down. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
6. Typically, the Cleared Balance is zero when you begin a reconciliation session for the first time. You can view the cleared transactions in CORE and check them off one by one by checking their Clear box against Checks/Payments so that the closing balance (cleared balance) in CORE is the same as the statement balance. Select the deposits or credits to clear, if any. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

7. Next, click Save Reconciliation > Final. If the Difference Balance is $0, your accounts are reconciled!
   
   Note: CORE auto saves your reconciliation details as a draft or you can save them manually using Save Reconciliation > Draft. You can click Undo All to clear and reset all the changes made in this session, including the statement details. You can also click Continue Later to cancel the process and resume it later.  

8. However, if there is a discrepancy between the transactions in CORE and your statement balance, then CORE prompts you to choose one of the options. 

• • Auto Adjust: You can fix the issue by selecting Auto Adjust to force CORE to create a journal entry for the difference. The G/L entry created for the difference either debits or credits the Reconciliation Discrepancies - 66900 system account. You can set the Adjustment Date for that entry.

  • Cancel: You can use this option to return to the screen without making any adjustment. You can then fix the issue manually by opening that account register and entering the transaction there. When you return to Reconciliations, the new transaction is automatically added and you can clear it here.

Note: If needed, you can click Modify Details anytime to go back to the Reconcile Accounts dialog and make changes there.

Merge Accounts

CORE allows you to merge one account with another. All the attachments of the source account get merged into the destination account. However, you cannot merge accounts of different types, accounts linked to cloud feeds, accounts that have been reconciled, and parent accounts with their sub-accounts.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the account row that you want to merge and select Merge. You are prompted if the account being merged is linked to an accounting software.
3. On the Merge Accounts dialog, select a destination account from the drop-down into which you want to merge your account.
4. Click Merge.

You can also check the detailed video on merging data in CORE.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
3. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Number.
4. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Type.
5. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Expand/Collapse Sub-Accounts

CORE allows you to indicate if you want to see the Chart of Accounts list view expanded to reveal the hierarchical accounts and sub-accounts or as collapsed. This preference is remembered for the logged in user.

To expand or collapse the account hierarchy, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Expand Sub-Accounts or Collapse Sub-Accounts, as needed.

The list view grid will display the Chart of Accounts accordingly.

Export Chart of Accounts

In CORE, you can export the chart of accounts to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export the chart of accounts to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

View Reports

To view a report, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.
3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.

Apply Filters

To view selective data on the grid, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the right.
3. On the Filters panel, select a filter from the drop-down and specify individual records or range.
4. Click Add Filters to specify more filters.
5. When you have finished, click Apply Filter. You can see selective data now.
6. In the list view, you can remove the individual filters by clicking on each. To disable applied filters temporarily or remove all filters, click next to the Filters icon and select Disable Filters or Clear All, respectively.

You can also check the detailed video on applying filters in CORE.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings. 

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Chart of Accounts screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the top-right.
3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.