120 building the chart of accounts ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ it is important to structure your chart of accounts to match your exact accounting needs. since all business and finan- cial groups have many different accounts - and every household is unique - it is necessary to create your individual chart of accounts that matches your individual situation. - every account is given a name as well as a three digit ref- erence number. similar ac- counts are grouped together and assigned a certain block of numbers. - revenue accounts track all incoming funds. the standard practice is to number revenue accounts in the 400 range. - examine all your sources of income. give each source a name and a different three digit reference number. - a sample revenue accounts for home accounting might be - - 400 primary salary 410 second income 415 interest & dividends 420 investments 430 misc. income - again - note that all revenue accounts start with the number 4. - - - a sample business revenue numbering for the chart might be - - 400 retail sales 405 wholesale income 415 other income - note that these categories may be as general or specific as you like. you may break the categories into specific kinds of sales. you have up to 100 (400-499) available numbers. - if you are doing business accounting you may list equity accounts. these should be listed in the 300 range. equity accounts list funds and other considerations brought into the business by the owners and other principals. - after you have listed and num- bered your revenue accounts begin to organize your expense records. again there are special numbers for each grouping. sort your records of outgoing funds into two groups. one for assets and the other for expenses. consider assets to be items that have tangible value after purchase - such as houses cars - furniture - equipment and expenses to be the costs of daily operation of the home or the business. expenses are items such as utility bills - office supplies - groceries - maintenance - gas and oil - salaries paid - etc. - expense accounts must be num- bered at 500 or greater. assets from 100 to 199. - a more detailed and complete chart of accounts is illust- rated in the user manual. - be sure to write down your chart of accounts before using the system for the 1st time. refer to your notes when putting your data on- line. - when entering information the first data request will be the number of accounts you wish to enter. then the screen will clear to request the number and name. you may enter up to 15 char- acters for the account name. - at the completion of data entry you will be automat- ically returned to the main directory. -