# Chart of accounts

> Browse the accounts your books are organised into, add sub-accounts, set opening balances, and archive accounts you no longer use.

Canonical: https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/chart-of-accounts/
Language: en
Documentation index: https://docs.getonebooks.com/llms.txt

The chart of accounts is the list of categories every transaction is filed under. OneBooks ships a complete chart at sign-up, so you never have to build one; you extend it when you need more detail.

![The Chart of Accounts grouped by type with codes, names and balances](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/accounting-chart.webp)

## Reading the chart

- **Code** — a number that orders and identifies the account: 1xxx assets, 2xxx liabilities, 3xxx equity, 4xxx revenue, 5xxx expenses.
- **Type** — decides which report the account appears on.
- **System accounts** — the ones OneBooks posts to automatically (receivables, payables, tax, cash, bank, revenue, cost of goods sold, retained earnings). They cannot be archived or deleted.
- **Parent** — accounts can be nested; balances roll up to the parent on reports.

The full default list is in [Default chart of accounts](https://docs.getonebooks.com/reference/chart-of-accounts/).

## Add an account

1. Open **Accounting → Chart of Accounts** (Accountant mode) and select **New Account**.
2. Choose the **type**, a **code** in the matching range and a **name**.
3. Pick a **parent** to nest it — for a bank account choose **1210 Bank**, for an expense category choose the closest 5xxx account or none.
4. For a balance-sheet account, optionally enter an **opening balance** as of your start date.
5. Select **Save**.

![The New Account dialog with type, code, name, parent and opening balance](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/accounting-chart-new-account.webp)

## Edit and archive

Select the edit action on a row to rename an account or change its parent. **Archive** retires an account: it disappears from pickers and no new entry can post to it, while its history stays on every report. **Restore** brings it back. Accounts with children cannot be archived until the children are moved.

![The edit-account dialog with the archive option](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/accounting-chart-archive.webp)

## Opening balances on accounts

Use the **Set opening balance** action on a balance-sheet account to record its balance on the day before you started in OneBooks. Revenue and expense accounts cannot carry opening balances — see [Opening balances](https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/opening-balances/).

## Related

  - [Default chart of accounts](https://docs.getonebooks.com/reference/chart-of-accounts/)
  - [Cash and bank accounts](https://docs.getonebooks.com/banking/accounts/)
  - [Expense accounts](https://docs.getonebooks.com/expenses/accounts/)