Chart of accounts

The Chart of accounts allows the users to view and edit the current chart of accounts.

When creating a new environment on the Set up a new environment view, the chart of accounts has the following default options:

• Procountor default account scheme: a revised version of the Procountor default chart of accounts that is suitable for limited liability companies, entrepreneurs, limited partnerships, and cooperatives. You can take a closer look at the chart of accounts in this Excel file (header rows visible) or in this Excel file (only an account list).
• Procountor default Chart of Account (association): a revised version of the Procountor default chart of accounts that is suitable for associations and foundations. You can take a closer look at the chart of accounts in this Excel file (header rows visible) or in this Excel file (only an account list).
• Procountor default Chart of Account (real estate): a revised version of the Procountor default chart of accounts that is suitable for real estate companies and limited liability housing companies. You can take a closer look at the chart of accounts in this Excel file (header rows visible) or in this Excel file (only an account list).

If needed, rights to access and edit the Chart of accounts view can be determined for each user with Chart of accounts and default reports setting of the user rights.

 

Overview

 

Top bar functions

• Save button saves all made changes.
• Edit multiple translations button opens a separate view where you can edit the account translations. More detailed instructions on how to edit these translations can be found in this section.
• Show receivable and payable accounts: select the accounts used on the Reconciliation report for open invoices view. More detailed instructions on how to select these accounts is available in this section.
• Import button has two options, Import accounts from CSV and Download template. These functions can be used to edit the chart of accounts by importing a CSV file to Procountor. More detailed instructions on how to import a chart of accounts can be found in this section.
• Export button is used to export the chart of accounts to a HTML or CSV file. More information about exporting the chart of accounts to a HTML or CSV file can be found in this section.
• Balance sheet accounts settings button opens a separate view where you can edit settings which affects Automated balance sheet itemisation in Balance sheet itemisation view.

 

Chart of accounts section options

• Select the chart of accounts language in the Select language version drop-down menu. The options are Finnish, Swedish, and English.
• Show accounts in use option shows all accounts currently in use on the account list. An account in use means an account that has entries and/or has been set as the default in Procountor settings:
  • General account posting defaults
  • Default postings for travel/expense invoices
  • Default salary postings
  • Bank statement posting defaults
  • Default postings for reference payments
  • Default posting for taxes
  • Default accounts of business partners
  • Receivable and payable accounts (that can be accessed through the Show receivable and payable accounts button on the Chart of accounts view)
• Show unused accounts shows all accounts currently not in use on the account list. An unused account is an account that has no entries and/or has not been set as the default in Procountor settings:
  • General account posting defaults
  • Default postings for travel/expense invoices
  • Default salary postings
  • Bank statement posting defaults
  • Default postings for reference payments
  • Default posting for taxes
  • Default accounts of business partners
  • Receivable and payable accounts (you can view these by clicking the Show receivable and payable accounts button on the Chart of accounts view)
• Show inactive accounts determines whether or not inactive accounts are shown on the account list.
• Use CoA hierarchy from default accounting reports determines the format in which the chart of account will be shown and edited.
  • If selected, the chart of accounts will follow the Default accounting report formulas view account structure, and the accounts are shown under different levels of subheadings and groups. The Accounts not on the report row is shown underneath the Receivable, Payable, and Income statement rows. These rows will contain all accounts that have not been selected in the Default accounting report formulas view account options. More detailed instructions on editing the default accounting report formulas and selecting the accounts can be found in a separate article on the Default accounting report formulas views.
  • If not selected, the chart will only include the headings Receivable, Payable, and Income statement. The accounts shown as a list below them.

 

Account list buttons and functions

Add account button adds new accounts to the chart of accounts:

 

 

• Account number field specifies the account to be added. The entered number must not be currently used by another account. If this is the case, the field will be highlighted in red and the Save button will be inactive.
• Account name specifies the name for the new account. Two or more accounts can share the same name, and an identical name will not prevent creating a new account. Only the account number must be unique.
• Copy name to translation below copies the name to the translation. The account name translations can be entered in the Translation fields.
• Save the account details and complete the addition by clicking Save at the top of the page.
• When new accounts are added to the chart of accounts, income tax return form mappings for these new accounts have always to be made afterwards. New accounts are not automatically mapped to any field of the income tax return form.
• It should be noted that if the old Accounting reports page is still visible next to the new Accounting reports age, any accounts added via the Chart of accounts page will not be visible on the old Accounting reports page. Accounts added via the Chart of accounts page are only visible on new accounting reports. Old Accounting reports has been removed in the version update 72, 21.1.2023.

Delete account removes selected accounts from the chart of accounts:

• Select the account you want to remove from the account list – otherwise the Delete account button will be inactive.
• When removing an account, a separate dialog box will open, prompting you to confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.
• The selected account cannot be removed if it is currently in use. An account in use means an account that has accounting entries and/or has been set as the default account in Procountor settings:
  • General account posting defaults
  • Default postings for travel/expense invoices
  • Default salary postings
  • Bank statement posting defaults
  • Default postings for reference payments
  • Default posting for taxes
  • Default accounts of business partners
  • Receivable and payable accounts (that can be accessed through the Show receivable and payable accounts button on the Chart of accounts view)
• To remove an account that is currently in use, all accounting entries on that account must be moved to another account and it must be removed from all above-mentioned posting defaults.

Edit account edits the existing accounts:

• The account to be edited must first be selected from the account list – otherwise the Edit account button will be inactive.
• The number in the Account number field cannot be edited. To change the account number, the account must be removed, and a new account added.
• The name of the account can be edited in the Account name field. This name does not have to be unique and can be used for other accounts as well. Two accounts can share the same identical name, and this will not prevent from saving the changes.
• Copy name to translation below selection determines whether or not the name is to be copied directly as the translation for one of the languages. The account name translation can be filled out in the Translation fields.
• Save the changes and complete the editing by clicking Save at the top of the page.

Set to inactive inactivates an account:

• The account to be inactivated must first be selected from the account list—otherwise the Set to inactive button will not be active.
• Inactivating an account means the account cannot be selected for postings on receipts. The accounting entries will not be affected and the account, along with its balance, will be shown on accounting reports.
• Inactivated accounts will disappear from the Chart of accounts account list if the Show inactive accounts option is not selected. An inactive account will be shown in grey on the list when the Show inactive accounts option is selected. When an inactive account is selected from the list, it can be activated again with the Set to active. The inactivation button will work as an activation button for inactive accounts.
• If an account that has been set as a default posting account is selected to be inactivated, a notification will be shown before inactivating it. Default posting accounts can be inactivated but the account will remain as the default account in all posting defaults. This means that accounting entries can still be made, even if the account in question is inactive. To prevent this, the account must be removed from the following default posting settings:
  • General account posting defaults
  • Default postings for travel/expense invoices
  • Default salary postings
  • Bank statement posting defaults
  • Default postings for reference payments
  • Default posting for taxes
  • Default accounts of business partners
  • Receivable and payable accounts (that can be accessed through the Show receivable and payable accounts button on the Chart of accounts view)

 

Edit multiple translations view

 

Account name translations can be edited on the Edit multiple translations view. To get to this view click Edit multiple translations at the top bar.

The list contains all accounts and their English, Finnish, and Swedish translations. Procountor default accounts have ready-made translations that can be edited by modifying the contents of the field, if necessary. If new accounts have been added with only Finnish translations, the corresponding English and Swedish translations for these accounts will be blank.

The Search field can be used to find accounts to edit by entering the account number or account name (or part of the name or number). The search results can be filtered from the Filters drop-down menu by selecting, for example, only accounts missing an English translation.

On the right side, the Edited and Edited by columns show the details of the most recent edit. Show last edited info button shows the time stamp and the user who made the most recent edit for each translation.

Translations can also be edited using a CSV file. Existing translations can be exported to a CSV file with the Export CSV button. After making the necessary changes (by adding / editing the translations of each account) the updated file can be imported with the Import CSV button. A summary of the made changes and any invalid rows will be shown on the importing view.

All changes made (either by directly editing the chart or by using the CSV file) can be saved with the Save button, located at the top of the page.

 

Selecting receivable and payable accounts

Select the accounts used on the Reconciliation report for open invoices with the Show receivable and payable accounts button:

 

 

Accounts can be added for both sales and purchases with the Add button. To remove an account, select the check box next to the account and click Remove.

It is important to note that a payable or receivable account selected on the General account posting defaults view cannot be removed – the checkbox will not be shown next to these accounts.

Any changes made can be saved with the Save button.

 

Editing the chart of accounts using a CSV file

The chart of accounts can be edited using a CSV, which can be used to:

• add new accounts to the chart of accounts and
• update, edit, and inactivate existing accounts.

Removing accounts completely is not possible with a CSV import file. Accounts to be removed must be deleted directly from the Chart of accounts view.

Accounts can be added, replaced, or modified with the CSV file on a row-by-row basis based on the account number. In practice, this means that:

• If the CSV import file has only two rows for account numbers 1001 and 1002, all other accounts in the chart of accounts will not be affected.
• The accounts 1001 and 1002 on the CSV file will be added to the chart of accounts along with their configurations, if these account numbers no not yet exist in the chart of accounts.
• The accounts 1001 and 1002 on the CSV file will replace the accounts 1001 and 1002 in the chart of accounts if they already exist in the chart. If, for example, the account names in the CSV file differ from the names in the chart of accounts, the names will be updated to the names given in the CSV file.

 

Creating a CSV file

There are two ways to create an editable CSV file:

Option 1: Click the Import button at the top bar and select Download template. This template will not include any of the accounts in the chart of accounts, and all rows except the header row will be blank.

Option 2: Click the Export button at the top bar and select CSV. Select the following options in step 1 and 2 (step 3 options you can select freely):

1. Select All from the Language drop-down menu.
2. Select as a list of accounts from Export.
3. Select the accounts to be included on the CSV file in Export options.

All account selected in in the Export options will be included in the template as their own separate rows. The selections in steps 1 and 2 ensure the columns and rows on the template are similar to a blank CSV template, so it can easily be imported back to Procountor.

 

Editing the file

Regardless of which way the CSV file was created (either option 1 or 2 described above) editing the file is relatively straightforward and simple, as long as certain basic rules are followed.

As a default, the CSV file (including the blank CSV file) includes a header row that does not need to be removed before importing the file. This header row will be automatically ignored when the file is imported. Below is the description for each of the column headers:

• Account number: The account to be added or modified.  Balance sheet accounts are between 1000-2999 and  income statement accounts are between 3000-9999. Acceptable values are numbers between 1000 and 99999999. This means the account number can be up to eight numbers and must be at least four numbers long. Account number is mandatory, and if left blank, the row will cause an error in the import.
• Name: The name of the account to be added. This field is mandatory, and the name must be between one and 255 characters. Leaving the field blank or exceeding the 255 characters will cause an error in the import.
• Inactive: This field determines if the account is to be set inactive or not. Entering a small-case x or an upper-case X in the field sets the account as inactive. Leaving the field blank keeps the account active.
• Translation ENG: English translation for the account. The translation is not mandatory, but if one is given, it must be at least one character and a maximum of 255 characters.
• Translation FIN: Finnish translation for the account. The translation is not mandatory, but if one is given, it must be at least one character and a maximum of 255 characters.
• Translation SWE: Swedish translation for the account. The translation is not mandatory, but if one is given, it must be at least one character and a maximum of 255 characters.

The following things about the Inactive and Translation ENG/FIN/SWE fields should be taken into consideration, as demonstrated in this example:

• In this example, the chart of accounts includes inactive accounts 1001 and 1002. These accounts have been translated to all three languages (ENG/FIN/SWE).
• The CSV import file rows are allocated to an account in the chart of accounts based on the number in the Account number
• Only the name of these accounts in the Name field is to be changed with the CSV file, and all other account details are to be left unchanged.
• To keep all the other account details (such as the active status and translations) as they are, fill out the Inactive and Translation ENG/FIN/SWE fields on the CSV file.
• If the Inactive and Translation ENG/FIN/SWE fields are left blank, the accounts 1001 and 1002 will be activated and all translations removed.

 

Importing the CSV file

When all necessary changes to existing accounts and/or new accounts have been added to the CSV file, the file can be imported to Procountor by clicking the Import button and selecting Import accounts from CSV. The file is selected in a separate Import file dialogue box:

 

 

Choose the file and click Continue. This opens a separate confirmation window with a summary of all the rows in the file and any possible errors. To confirm the import and update the chart of account rows with the CSV file, click the Import button. Save the changes with the Save button at the top of the page.

If the file contains both valid and invalid rows, the valid rows can be imported despite the erroneous rows. Only the rows that contain no errors are updated to the chart of accounts when the Import button is clicked.

When new accounts are added to the chart of accounts, income tax return form mappings for these new accounts have always to be made afterwards. New accounts are not automatically mapped to any field of the income tax return form.

It should be noted that if the old Accounting reports page is still visible next to the new Accounting reports page, any accounts added via the Chart of accounts page will not be visible on the old Accounting reports page. Accounts added via the Chart of accounts page are only visible on new accounting reports. Old Accounting reports has been removed in the version update 72, 21.1.2023.

 

Changing the chart of accounts after the environment creation

If the environment has been set up with a wrong chart of accounts selection, a whole new environment has to be created. When creating this environment, the correct chart of accounts has to be carefully chosen. It is not possible to change the chart of accounts after the environment creation.

If some actions (such as determining settings, creating registers, making accounting entries) have been made in the environment with the wrong chart of accounts, these actions have to be made again to the new environment with the correct chart of accounts. It is especially important to remove possible bank account information set in the Bank account information view so that the same bank account can later be added to the new environment.

If the environment with the wrong chart of accounts is already in production usage and OpusCapita's e-invoicing addresses have been activated, it is needed to contact administration in hallinto@procountor.com. For clarity, the old environment can be named with "TO BE DELETED" in Basic info view. The e-mail to administration has to include the name of the environment to be closed as well as the name of the new environment (that has been created with the right chart of accounts) in which the production usage and OpusCapita's addresses are transferred to.