Configure Chart of Accounts to Suit Your Business
To report on your accounts in a meaningful, accurate way, all your transactions need to be coded to an appropriate account code. It’s important to start out with the list of account codes that’s right for your business. This is called the Chart of Accounts.
Xero comes with a default chart which you can use to categorize your expenses and revenue as well as your liabilities and assets. You can easily tailor the chart to suit your business, or import an entirely new chart – perhaps imported from your old accounting software.
To add a new account, simply click ‘Add Account’. The account type you choose will determine where it will appear on your reports – like your revenue or expenses, for example. Give it a name and account code, then fill in the rest of the details and save.
To edit an existing account, simply drill into it and make the changes you need.
To delete unneeded accounts, select them and click ‘Delete’. If there are already transactions coded to this account, it will archived (not deleted) and will still show on reports – so you won’t lose any information.
To bring over the Chart of Accounts from your old system, you can import it using Xero’s template. Even if you have already coded transactions to Xero’s default chart when you were first getting started. Select ‘Import’ and download the template.
If you’re putting your old Chart of Accounts into this template you might want to tidy up any old codes you aren’t using anymore.
For the purpose of importing, the minimum columns require are code, name, type and tax code. Once you’re finished, save as a CSV file and them import it into Xero. You can review the changes before you confirm your imported chart. Xero will replace the old chart entirely, so any unused accounts will get delete. Any you did code transactions to will be archived and still appear on your reports.
Once confirmed, your new Chart of Accounts will take effect and you can start coding your transactions.