Use this tabsheet to define the structure of the Chart of Accounts. Structure refers to...
| • | the number of segments to be used in the AccountID |
| • | the segment index number for the Financial segment |
| • | the Name for each segment |
| • | separator characters, if any, such as "-" or "." between those segments |
After you have established the Chart of Accounts structure you can run the Chart of Accounts maintenance task. Once your Accounts have been setup, you can then return to this task and use the Role tabsheet. Until those Accounts have been setup they can’t be specified in the Role tabsheet.
Chart of Accounts structure
AdaptAccounts supports a multi-segment Chart of Accounts. This means an Account may be comprised of multiple segments such as Financial, Department, Division, Fund or whatever. The definition of which segments are included together with their order and optional separator characters between segments is referred to as the Chart of Accounts structure for a Company.
Each Company can have its own unique Chart of Accounts structure. All Accounts within a Company conform to that structure.
The Financial segment is always required and a minimal structure is just the Financial segment. If there are no other segments then the simple structure is suitable. In these environments the FinancialID is the same as the AccountID.
When there are two or more segments the structure specifies the order in which they occur and optional separator characters between them.
For example, assume a Chart of Accounts structure for a Company with Departments where AccountIDs are comprised of a 4-digit FinancialID followed by a 2-digit DepartmentID. There could be AccountIDs such as 412712 and 412715. Both Accounts have a common FinancialID (4127) but they differ by DepartmentID - one refers to Department 12 and the other refers to Department 15.
The AccountID in a multi-segment structure is a combination of its underlying segments. Transactions affecting the General Ledger just specify AccountIDs - they don’t specify each segment individually.
If all possible combinations were valid then any Account would simply be one of those possible combinations.
However, not all combinations are valid. It is desirable to specify which combinations are valid so that only valid combinations are permitted.
This is a purpose of the Account table. It enables you to specify those combinations that are permitted. Combinations that are not in the Account table are not permitted.
Chart of Accounts maintenance has facilities to generate Accounts based on selected segments you specify. Financial Statements support various selection and consolidation options based on segments you specify.
