Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is a listing of all of the accounts contained in an organization's general ledger.

In most organizations the chart of accounts is arranged in the following order: current assets, long-term assets, current liabilities, long-term liabilities, owner's (or stockholders') equity, operating revenues, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, other revenues and gains, other expenses and losses.

Except for very small organizations, the accounts are numbered. Typically, the first digit of an asset's account number is the digit "1". The account numbers for liability accounts and owner's equity accounts often begin with the digit "2". The account numbers for operating revenue accounts might have a "3" as their first digit. Expenses could begin with the digits "4" or "5" or "6" depending on the type of expense. Gains, losses, non-operating revenues, and non-operating expenses might have "9" as their first digit.

Accounting software usually provides sample charts of accounts for various types of organizations. However, you will likely need to add more accounts or modify the account titles.

The chart of accounts section of accounting software often controls the way account balances are presented in the computer generated financial statements.

Sample Chart of Accounts Questions
1) A __________ of accounts is a listing of the accounts to which transactions can be posted.

2) The chart of accounts contains the account names and account numbers for the following types of accounts: ____________ sheet accounts and income statement accounts.

3) The chart of accounts contains the accounts in the company's ___________ ledger.

4) A contra-asset account will have a _____________ balance.

5) Asset accounts will normally have ___________ balances.

6) Inexpensive accounting ______________ comes with charts of accounts already setup for various types of companies.

7) Interest Expense and Interest Revenue/Income accounts are classified as 'Other' or 'Non-_____________________.'

8) Account ____________ are not part of a chart of accounts.

9) Unearned Revenues and Customer Deposits are _______________ accounts.

10) Interest owed on Notes Payable will be recorded as a credit in ______________ Payable.