The chart of accounts
The bridge between your categories and account numbers: choose a framework, attach your categories, and keep control of the numbering.
A category is your own language: "Sound system", "Benevolence", "Electricity". An accountant works with numbers. The chart of accounts bridges the two, and it decides the numbering of every one of your books.
You set it once, at the start, and you almost never come back to it.
Why you need it
Without a chart of accounts your church still has bookkeeping, but it is mute to an outsider. Every income goes to a single number and every expense to another: rent, electricity, fees and missions all land in the same place.
Your accountant does not receive a general ledger, they receive two lumps. They will rebuild by hand what you already knew, and they will bill you for it.
Note: you will never see an account number when recording a transaction. You pick a category, as before. The chart of accounts is a setting, not a data-entry constraint.
Create it in one click
- Open Finance, then Reports, Accounting section, Chart of accounts tab.
- Check the framework offered. It is derived from your church's country.
- Click Create the chart of accounts. Accounts are created and your categories are attached in the same move.
- Look at the Without account box: those categories will go to the "Other" account until you pick one for them.
| Country | Framework offered |
|---|---|
| Belgium | PCMN |
| France | PCG |
| West and Central Africa | SYSCOHADA |
| Elsewhere | Generic |
You can pick another one: a Belgian church whose accountant works with the PCG is free to choose the PCG.
Reading an account number
The first digit carries the meaning. It is the only thing to remember to read a trial balance without being an accountant.
| Class | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Equity and long-term debt | 170 Loans |
| 2 | Fixed assets (what the church owns durably) | 221 Buildings |
| 4 | Current receivables and payables | 440 Suppliers |
| 5 | Cash and bank | 550 Bank, 571 Cash |
| 6 | Expenses (what makes you poorer) | 6100 Rent |
| 7 | Income (what makes you richer) | 7300 Tithes |
Two digits settle a common question: 6 and 7 go to the income statement, everything else goes to the statement of net assets. A class 2 account is never an expense, even if the money left your bank on the day of purchase.
Tip: when a figure surprises you in a report, look at the account class first. Nine times out of ten the anomaly is a category attached to the wrong class, not a data-entry mistake.
What this chart is, and what it is not
The chart shipped is a starting model. The classes are right, but the sub-account numbers should be validated with your accountant: every firm has its habits, and two accountants in the same country do not always number alike.
That is why every number stays editable. Open the Chart of accounts section, click Edit next to an account, change its number or its label. Your categories stay attached: they follow the account, not the number.
Warning: an account is never deleted, it is deactivated. Past transactions point at it, and erasing it would make your history unreadable. An account still used by a category refuses to be deactivated until you have reassigned it.
The most common mistake
Creating the chart of accounts after recording several months of transactions, then wondering why the journal is empty.
That is normal: entries are derived at the moment of recording, from the category's account. Earlier transactions had none. The Catch up button in the Journal tab posts them all, in chronological order, without duplicating anything.
Tip: if you are starting with Sanctumel, create the chart of accounts before your first transaction. Five minutes at the start saves you a catch-up and a verification.
What it changes in your exports
- FEC (France) comes out in double entry, two balanced lines per transaction, as the format requires.
- PCMN (Belgium), SYSCOHADA and the generic Journal carry the real number of each category, along with its label.
- A church that has not yet created its chart keeps exactly the previous behaviour: nothing breaks, the file simply stays coarse.