Know About the Chart of Accounts in Sage 50 Accounts

What is the Chart of Accounts in Sage 50?

Once you run management reports in Sage 50 Accounts, the nominal accounts are categorized so that you can analyze your expenditure, income, assets, liabilities, and capital, and check how your business is performing. So, you see, the Chart of Accounts is a list of all your nominal accounts and it helps determine which category each account appears in. Also, you can have more than one Chart of Accounts.

Know all About the Nominal Account

Nominal accounts are records that track the various types of sales and purchases for your business, for instance, the bank charges, petrol, or sales. This way every nominal account has a unique nominal code reference used to identify the account, though you can change them to use your numbering scheme if required. Once you enter a transaction in Sage 50 Accounts, you will be assigned the relevant nominal code depending on what you have been recording. For instance, a sales invoice or a bank payment.

Default Layout of Accounts

Once you first set up your company within Sage 50 Accounts, the nominal accounts and Chart of Accounts are based on the business type that has been selected by you. For instance, sole trader, limited company, partnership, or charity.

What is included within the Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is divided into two areas – Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet.

Profit & Loss categories

Used to view the Profit & Loss categories

Sales	Income or revenue you generate by selling products or services.
Purchase	Purchases made by your company, for example, buying stock and any associated transport costs.
Direct Expenses	Costs directly involved in the sale of goods, for example, direct labor and sales commission.
Overheads	Business expenses that are not directly attributable to the cost of sales. This includes wages, rent, rates, annual depreciation and so on.
Taxation	Business expenses that are not directly attributable to the cost of sales. This includes wages, rent, rates, annual depreciation, and so on.

Balance Sheet categories

Used to view the Balance Sheet categories.

Fixed Assets	Includes assets owned by your business that have a short life, such as stock, cash, and money in the bank.
Current Assets	Liabilities you have to pay shortly, such as creditors, VAT Liability and short-term loans, and wages.
Current Liabilities	Liabilities you have to pay in the near future, such as creditors, VAT Liability and short-term loans, and wages.
Long Term Liabilities	Capital introduced, share capital, unused reserves, and the accumulated profit or loss.
Capital and Reserves	Capital introduced, share capital, unused reserves and the accumulated profit or loss.

What can you use the Chart of Accounts For Sage 50

The following are the main used for the Chart of Accounts in Sage 50:

Add, edit, delete, or set a default chart of accounts.

Once you first set up your company within Sage 50 Accounts, the nominal accounts and chart of accounts are based on the business type you select in the Active Setup Wizard. If required, you can add, edit, or delete a chart of accounts, as well as set a chart of accounts you want to be your default.

Copy a Chart of Accounts (COA)

Once a new chart of accounts (COA) has been created, Sage Accounts creates a new company file in the relevant company’s ACCDATA folder.

The term offered to the file depends upon how many charts of accounts have previously been created, for example, the default chart of accounts file is called:

• COA and the second and subsequent charts of accounts are incremented accordingly:
• COA
• COA and more.

Once a new chart of accounts has been created the accdata\category.dta file gets updated. This file holds various details regarding the number of charts of accounts the company has and their names.

NOTE: Any changes done to the profit and loss or balance sheet description names don’t copy over as part of this process and are required to be amended manually. Likewise, this process does not affect the nominal list which should be edited independently when needed.

However, bear in mind that the option to copy a chart of accounts is not available within the Sage 50 Accounts Essentials.

To Print a chart of accounts layout

How to print out your chart of accounts from Sage 50 Accounts.

• Go to the menu bar and click Modules
• Next, click Nominal codes and then click Chart of accounts
• Now select the Chart of Accounts you want to print then click Edit.
• Click Print and select the required output then click Run.

How to Send a chart of accounts layout to Microsoft Excel

• Go to the menu bar and click Modules
• Next, click Nominal codes

To export the chart of account details, follow the steps below.

Export a list of your charts of accounts	Click Send to Excel.
Export a category from a chart of accounts	Double-click the chart of accounts, select the required category, then click Send to Excel.
Export the full chart of accounts	● Double-click the chart of accounts, then click Print. ● Click File, click Run then enter a file name. ● In Save as type click Microsoft Excel 2007 Files. ● Click Save.

To Identify and correct errors in your chart of accounts

Within the Sage 50 Accounts, the chart of accounts layout is important for generating management reports like profit and loss and balance sheets. It is also important during year-end processes to determine which nominal account balances have been cleared. Hence, it is important to have an error-free chart of accounts.

To check your chart of accounts, you can run the Check option. This checks for problems such as missing or duplicate nominal codes in your chart of accounts. When any errors are identified, you can correct them by using the steps offered in this article.

How to Check the chart of accounts for errors

• Click Nominal Codes.
• Click Chart of Accounts.
• Select the Chart of Accounts you want to check and click Edit.
• Click Check.
  • If no errors are found, we recommend you run Check Data and if there are any errors in your data ensure these are fixed.
  • If errors are found, to preview the errors, click Run.
• Please refer to the section Chart of Accounts errors to fix any errors.
• Click Close then click Close.

Chart of Accounts errors

Below are some common errors that users may encounter in charts of accounts.

• One of the following ranges is enclosed within the other range
• The following ranges overlap with each other
• Nominal Code xxxx is not represented in the chart
• Nominal Code xxxx has been used as part of one “floating” category range, but not as part of the equivalent “floating” category in Current Assets / Current Liabilities

Conclusion!

So, there you have it friends, these are some of the main aspects regarding knowledge about the Chart of Accounts in Sage 50. Was this article helpful? Do let us know in the space below and we would love to hear from you.

Frequently Asked Questions