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An account is a tool used to organize a business. Accounts keep track of the additions and subtractions that occur in regular business activity. Since accounts are the backbone of your MYOB Accounting Plus financial records, ensuring your accounts work the way you want them to should be one of your highest priorities.
Even if you’re just starting to use Accounting Plus, you already have a Chart of Accounts to work with. A chart of accounts is merely a list of all the accounts that are used to track a business. Since you selected a starter chart of accounts when you created your company’s data file using the New Data File Wizard, you already have an extensive set of accounts that you can use to track your business activity, and you may not need to create any more accounts. However, you can make changes to the accounts that were created for you using the New Data File Wizard, if you choose.
If you’ve recently upgraded your version of Accounting Plus, your chart of accounts will be the same as it was when you were using the previous version. However, depending upon your situation, you may want to review your chart of accounts to be sure you’re using the accounts you want to use.
Every account in the Accounting Plus system must be assigned a type before it can be used to track your company’s financial activity. You can choose from eight different account types: Assets, Liabilities, Income, Expenses, Equity, Cost of Sales, Other Income and Other Expenses. Each type serves a specific purpose.
If you’re unsure about which type you should assign to a new account, you probably should consult your accountant, or an MYOB certified consultant. For more information about the Accounting Plus Certified Consultant program see http:// www.myob.com/us/service/consultants.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
There are four different account levels to choose from in Accounting Plus: Header Account (Non-Postable), Detail Account (Postable), Detail Checking Account (Postable) and Detail Credit Card Account (Postable).
This level is intended to be used as a title of a group of accounts. If this selection is marked for an existing account, the account has already been designated as a header account.
Header accounts are used only for grouping accounts that have a similar purpose. Typically, header accounts have detail accounts “under” them; that is, detail accounts are assigned to specific header accounts. In the list on the left side of the chart of accounts window, header accounts appear in bold type, and the detail accounts appear below them in plain type at the next level.
Transaction amounts can’t be assigned (posted) to header accounts -- only to detail accounts. You can, however, combine the amounts of all the detail accounts under a header account and display the total amount on reports. To do this, mark the selection in the Header Account view of the Edit Accounts window named When Reporting, Generate a Subtotal for This Section.
Header accounts aren’t required in Accounting Plus, except for the eight Level 1 accounts. Header accounts you create must be either Level 2 or Level 3.
This level should be used if you intend to assign transactions to the account you’re creating. If this selection is marked for an existing account, the account has already been designated as a detail account.
Each detail account is assigned to the header account that appears directly above it in the list on the left side of the Chart of Accounts window. Detail accounts appear in plain type, and header accounts appear in bold type.
Transaction amounts can be assigned (posted) to detail accounts; that is, when you enter a transaction in Accounting Plus, you can enter the number of a detail account. The amount of the transaction will then be included in the balance of the detail account.
If a detail account has checking privileges -- in other words, if the account is a “checking account” -- don’t choose this selection. Instead, choose the Detail Checking Account (Postable) selection. Detail accounts can be Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4.
If you’re using Accounting Plus’s Multicurrency feature (you marked the “I Deal in Multiple Currencies” option in the Preferences window) and you’re creating an exchange account to track the effects of currency fluctuations on a foreign currency account, choose the Detail Account (Postable) option. Your exchange accounts must have the Detail account level.
This level is available only if you’re creating an asset account. Choose this selection if you intend to assign transactions to the account you’re creating, and you want to spend money using the funds in this account. If this selection is marked for an existing account, the account has already been designated as a detail checking account.
Accounts with checking privileges appear in lists in transaction windows throughout the Accounting Plus system. Each time you spend money in Accounting Plus, you can select the checking account you want to use.
Each detail checking account is assigned to the header account that appears directly above it in the list on the left side of the Chart of Accounts window. Detail checking accounts appear in plain type, and header accounts appear in bold type.
Transaction amounts can be assigned (posted) to detail accounts; that is, when you enter a transaction in Accounting Plus, you can enter the number of a detail checking account. The amount of the transaction will then be included in the balance of the detail checking account. Detail accounts can be Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4.
Transaction numbers are entered in windows like the Spend Money window, where you write your Spend Money transactions. Each time you write a Spend Money transaction in Accounting Plus, the next transaction’s number will increment by one. If you change the number when you create a transaction, the next transaction’s number will increment by one from the number you entered.
This level is available only if you’re creating a liability account. Choose this selection if you intend to assign transactions to the account you’re creating, and you want the account to reflect charges and payments made on a credit card. If this selection is marked for an existing account, the account has already been designated as a detail credit card account.
Accounts with credit card privileges appear in lists in transaction windows throughout the system.
Each detail credit card account is assigned to the header account that appears directly above it in the list on the left side of the Chart of Accounts window. Detail credit card accounts appear in plain type, and header accounts appear in bold type.
Transaction amounts can be assigned (posted) to detail accounts; that is, when you enter a transaction in Accounting Plus, you can enter the number of a detail credit card account. The amount of the transaction will then be included in the balance of the detail credit card account.
Detail accounts can be Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4. Once you’ve selected the account level, enter a number and name for your new account, along with its opening balance.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
Step 1: Choose the type of account you want
Step 2: Enter basic information about the account
Step 3: Choose a currency for the account (if you’re using Multicurrency)
Step 4: Enter budgets for the account (optional; detail accounts only)
Step 5: Link the account to a transaction type (optional; detail accounts only)
Step 6: Enter your detail accounts’ opening balances
Step 7: Enter your detail accounts’ historical balances (optional)
When you’re creating accounts in the system, keep several points in mind:
Every transaction you enter into the Accounting Plus system must be assigned to one or more specific accounts. To reduce your data entry time and the possibility of mistaken assignments, Accounting Plus was designed to automatically assign your transactions to the proper accounts at the time you record the transactions. These accounts are called linked accounts.
When you used the New Data File Wizard to create your company’s data file, specific linked accounts were set up automatically for you. For example, an asset account was assigned to track all sales that result in money owed to you. Whenever you enter a sales transaction that’s not fully paid at the time of the sale, the amount you’re owed will automatically be added to that particular account’s balance. This allows you to avoid the effort of selecting the correct account every time you enter a sale.
As mentioned earlier, your Accounting Plus linked accounts are automatically set up for you when you create your data file. However, you might want to use different accounts to track your transaction activity.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
Link the account to a transaction type (optional; detail accounts only)
If your accounts had balances before you began using Accounting Plus, you need to assign those balances to your accounts before you can accurately track your business using Accounting Plus. The balances you assign to your accounts when you begin using the system are called opening balances.
To properly assign opening balances to accounts, you need to enter the balance of each of your accounts as of the first day of your conversion month -- the month you began using Accounting Plus to track your business.
You can determine your accounts’ opening balances from reports you may have recently created. If you have a trial balance report for the month prior to your conversion month, each account’s ending balance for that month is the opening balance you should enter into Accounting Plus.
If you have a current balance sheet, you can use the total amounts on that report for the opening balances of your asset, liability and equity accounts.
If you have a current income statement, you can use the total amounts on that report for the opening balances of your income, cost of sales and expense accounts.
You can track your business’s financial progress by using a monthly budget for each of your detail accounts, including detail checking and detail credit card accounts. You can also set up budget shortcuts for an account so each month incorporates a regular increase in budget amounts. Accounting Plus begins with the January budgeted amount and increases it by the amount or percentage you specify for each consecutive month.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
You can track your business’s financial progress by using a monthly budget for each of your detail accounts, including detail checking and detail credit card accounts. You can also set up budget shortcuts for an account so each month incorporates a regular increase in budget amounts. Accounting Plus begins with the budgeted amount and increases it by the amount or percentage you specify for each consecutive month.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
Enter budgets for the account (optional; detail accounts only)
If you’re using the Multicurrency feature, your accounts lsit includes a number of exchange accounts to track the effects that changes in the exchange rate have on your foreign currency accounts. If the foreign currency account associated with an exchange account has an opening balance, then the exchange account should also have an opening balance. See Multicurrency Overview for more information.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
Choose a currency for the account (if you’re using Multicurrency)
An account’s historical balances are the month-end balances for the account for the month before you began using Accounting Plus to track your business. You’re not required to enter historical balances for any of your accounts in Accounting Plus, but you might find this information useful if you want to compare the current year’s account balances with last year’s.
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
Accounts can be easily changed, removed or inactivated. In particular, you can change an account’s assigned level, which indicates its location in your accounts’ list hierarchy. The eight section header accounts -- Assets, Liabilities, Income, Expenses, Equity, Cost of Sales, Other Income and Other Expenses -- are the only accounts that can be Level 1 accounts. All other header accounts can be assigned Levels 2 and 3. Detail accounts can be Level 2, 3 or 4.
In many cases, you can change an account’s level quickly. You can even change header accounts -- except for the eight account categories -- to detail accounts. However, keep in mind that any changes you make to a header account will affect the detail accounts that were assigned to it.
You can also easily inactivate accounts that you no longer use. Your list of accounts will be shorter, and selecting the correct account will be easier. If an account is marked inactive, however, you still can use the account in transactions by manually entering the account number. Inactive accounts will still appear in the Chart of Accounts window. You can also return the status of the account to active so that it will appear again in the selection windows. No matter what the status of an account -- active or inactive, transactions recorded using the account will still affect all of your financial records.
Two reports, Chart of Accounts (Summary) and Chart of Accounts (Detail), will display and print account information with or without inactive accounts. Use the Report Filters window to unmark or mark the Include Inactive Accounts selection.
You can remove an account from the Accounting Plus system if the account fits the following criteria:
Click below for the step-by-step procedure:
To change an account’s basic information
Accounts Overview