Income and expense accounts

Accounts are categories for your money. They're not bank accounts.

• Income accounts tag what you sell, such as "Product Sales" or "Consulting". You pick one on products, services and invoice lines.
• Expense accounts are categories for spending, such as "Travel" or "Software & Subscriptions". Every expense needs one, and they make up the expense rows of your Profit and loss report.

New companies start with a set of default accounts. You can add, rename or archive them.

Add an account

1. Website: Accounting → Income accounts or Expense accounts. App: Menu → All modules → Reports & accounting.
2. Click Add new.
3. Enter a Name. Optionally add a Number and Description.
4. To make it a sub-account, pick a Save under parent account.
5. Save.

Sub-accounts

Sub-accounts sit under a parent, such as "Vehicle" → "Fuel". Their totals add up into the parent on the list and in Profit and loss.

• There's one level only. A sub-account can't have its own sub-accounts.
• The parent must be the same type (income or expense).

Edit, archive or delete

Open an account to edit it. To remove one, Archive it first, then Restore or Delete it from the archived view. If you archive a parent, its sub-accounts move to the top level.

Archiving is the safe choice. Deleting an account for good removes it from every product, invoice line and expense that used it, and those expenses no longer show in Profit and loss. Move them to another account first.

Good to know

• Expense per account on the list covers all time, not a date range. Use Reports → Profit and loss for a period.
• For revenue figures, use Reports rather than the income accounts list.

FAQ

My sub-accounts don't seem to add up. Totals roll up into the parent. Check each expense has the account you expect.

The default list has accounts I don't use. Archive them. You can restore them later.