The SAP Business One chart of accounts and its management is an essential component in SAP Business One, especially for working with integrated financial accounting. The chart of accounts, which can be accessed via the finance opens in search mode by default. This allows you to quickly find specific accounts by entering the account number and then searching. The selected account is highlighted in the chart of accounts and all relevant account details are displayed.
Foreign currency accounts in SAP Business One
For foreign currency accounts, there is the option to either display the balance in the Foreign currency or in the local currency. Detailed information on the postings to an account can be called up via the "Account balance" window, which provides an overview of all transactions. The transactions can be checked directly from this window by clicking on the link arrows. SAP Business One also allows you to print the chart of accounts or export it to Excel.
Title accounts and active accounts
The chart of accounts contains all of the company's G/L accounts and is generally structured hierarchically into main levels, title accounts and active accounts. The main levels include areas such as assets, liabilities and equity, while Title accounts are used for structuring and therefore cannot be actively posted to. Active accounts, labelled either in black or green, are the accounts that are used for postings.
G/L account details in SAP Business One
The G/L account details offer flexible options for customisation. The account name can be changed at any time and external codes can be added, which is particularly useful for organisations reporting under alternative charts of accounts or accounting standards. The currency of an account can be defined and accounts can be marked as confidential to restrict access to authorised users.
Accounts for the cash flow report
There are also options to include an account in the cash flow report or to block manual postings. This is particularly important for accounts that are linked to Subsidiary books such as the stock ledger. Project management can also be supported by assigning certain accounts to specific projects. For the cost accounting allocation rules can be assigned to ensure that postings are always allocated to a specific project or cost centre.
Create accounts in SAP Business One
Creating new accounts in the chart of accounts is a straightforward process. After selecting the position where the new account is to be inserted, the account number, a description and further details such as currency and account type can be added. With these various functions and options, the chart of accounts in SAP Business One offers a powerful tool for efficient financial management and reporting. You can also import an existing chart of accounts. This can be made available for SAP Business One in the form of a text file using the Data Transfer Workbench tool. You should not forget to define the corresponding configuration codes for account segmentation before importing.
Use a standardised chart of accounts
If your company does not use a highly customised chart of accounts that differs significantly from standard charts of accounts, and if you do not have in-depth accounting knowledge, using a standardised chart of accounts in SAP Business One is a wise decision. Such a chart of accounts can be easily customised to your specific needs by integrating your own accounts. This is usually much more efficient than developing a completely new chart of accounts from scratch. A key advantage of the standardised chart of accounts is that a default setting already exists for the - often complicated - assignment of G/L accounts. allocation of G/L accounts already exists. If, on the other hand, you were to create a completely new chart of accounts, you would also have to completely redefine the assignment logic for G/L accounts.