Overview

The Master Accounts list is the master list of accounts available across all Actionstep divisions. Not all master accounts need to be installed at divisional level, but all accounts must initially be set up at the master accounts level. The accounts list affects everything that happens in Actionstep accounting, including how you record income and expenses and the layout of your financial reports. All accounts must initially be set up as master accounts and can then be "installed" at a divisional level. Therefore, in order to start adding accounts you must select master accounts from the Display drop down box.

To get the Accounts List go to Accounting > Accounts > Accounts List

Then select "Master Accounts" from the drop down box as in the screenshot below.

User Guide > Master Accounts > image2015-5-13 16:57:55.png

Account Types

Each account on your accounts list will be defined by an "account type." Account type designations tell the product how this account should be used in your system. We'll include some basic detail about your account type below but we highly recommend working with your accountant if you're unsure of the type you should choose when editing or adding an account.

The Financial reporting will Group by Account Type - so it is very important that you group account types correctly ie: don't have different Account Types under the same Parent Account

Assets
The assets of a business are those things that belong to the business that have a positive financial value i.e. items that could be sold by the business in exchange for money. Examples of assets include land, buildings, vehicles, stock, equipment, rare gold coins, bank accounts with positive balances and money owed to the business by its debtors. Asset account numbers normally start with 1.
Liabilities
The liabilities of a business are those things that belong to the business but unlike assets, liabilities have a negative financial value i.e. everything you owe to other people. Examples of liabilities include unpaid bills, GST, unpaid wages, rusty motor vehicles, stock that has passed its use-by date, overdrawn bank accounts and money owed by the business to its creditors. Liability account numbers normally start with 2.
Equity
The equity of a business is defined as the value of the assets minus the value of the liabilities. In other words the equity is the financial value that would be left if all the assets were sold and the money from the sale was used to pay off all the liabilities. Another way of expressing this is to say that the equity is the amount of money that would be released if the business was to be wound up. Equity account numbers normally start with3.
Income
The income of a business is the sum of those things that increase the value of the assets without any corresponding increase in the liabilities or any new investment by the owners of the business. Examples include revenue from the sale of goods, equipment or services supplied, rent or interest received and capital gains. Income accounts normally start with 4.
Cost of Sales
Cost of Sales is the direct cost of selling goods or providing your service. It includes purchases, freight, commissions and subcontractor labour. Cost of Sales account numbers normally start with 5.
Expenses
The expenses of a business are those things that reduce the value of the assets without any corresponding reduction in the liabilities or any capital drawings by the owners. Examples include the cost of stock and raw materials, rent or interest paid, electricity bills, telephone, wages, taxes, dividends, depreciation and donations to charity.
Other Income
Other income can be described as Non Trading income. It includes income that's not really part of your everyday business, such as interest income or one-off capital gains
Other Expenses
Other expenses are abnormal expenses that are not part of your everyday business such as lawsuit expenses or capital losses.

When creating an asset account choose the following Account Types:

Bank - if you're creating a new bank account.
Accounts Receivable - if you plan to use the account for tracking how much money customers owe you.
Asset - for anything that isn't a bank account but is a short-term asset, for e.g. Inventory.
Fixed Asset - for anything material that you can touch, feel and see, for e.g. Fixtures and Fittings.
Other Asset - for intangible assets, for e.g. Goodwill.

When creating liability account choose the following Account Types:

Accounts Payable - if you plan to use the account for tracking how much money you owe suppliers.
Current Liability - for any money you owe that's relatively short term, for e.g. GST Payable
Long Term Liability - for Hire Purchase accounts, Bank Loans and long-term Loans from Directors.
Credit Card - for your credit cards.
Other Liability - for anything else, for e.g. Shareholder's current accounts.

Account Numbering

Actionstep's default account numbering system consists follows the format "N-NNNN" with the "N" representing numerals. Organizations are encouraged to replace this numbering system with whatever numbering system their team might be used to. Should you choose to preserve the default numbering system it's helpful to understand how it is organized.

First digit: The first digit indicates the account belongs to one of 6 account types.

1	Assets
2	Liabilities
3	Equity
4	Income
5	Cost of Sales
6	Expenses

Second and Third Digit: When combined with the first digit the second and third digits indicate the account sub type.

1-11	Bank Accounts and Other Current Assets
1-12	Other Assets
1-17	Accounts Receivable
1-21	Fixed Assets
1-40	Other Assets
2-12	Accounts Payable
2-11	Credit Card
2-13	Other Current Liabilities
2-90	Other Liabilities
3-11	Equity
4-11	Income
4-81	Other Income
5-13	Cost of Sales
6-10	Expense
6-90	Other Expense
6-60	Income Tax Expense

Fourth and Fifth Digit: Are used for ordering and identifying specific accounts of a certain type and subtype.

Adding a new account number using this system: In order a new account of an existing subtype, we recommend using the preset first through third digits and any unused forth and fifth digit.

Example: If I wanted to add a new income account to the list pictured below I might choose 4-1150

Add a Master Account

Master accounts can be added by selecting one of the green plus signs on the master accounts screen. You will notice a green plus sign next to each parent account listed in your current chart of accounts. Selecting the plus sign next to the parent account type you want to use for your new account will prepopulate that parent account in the "Add account" screen.

For example, you would select on the plus sign next to the Income Account header to add a new asset account.

This will take you to the "Insert Account" screen where you will need to enter more information about the account.
*Note* as is the case throughout Actionstep, a red asterisk next to a field indicates that field is mandatory.

Field	Description
Header Account?	Select if this account is to be a header/parent account, i.e. it will appear in bold with other accounts listed below it. If you want it to be an account that you add transactions to then don't tick this box.
Active?	On Set up this would most likely be active. Un-select this checkbox if you wish to delete/close an account as accounts cannot be deleted once transactions have been posted to them.
Account Type	Method of grouping accounts for reporting and selection - refer to Account Types section above for further information. Please ensure that under a "parent" each type is the same.
Parent Account	Defines the Header Account the new account will be assigned to.
Account #	Number assigned to account. Look at the list of accounts already in the account group and decide where you'd like this new account to fit in. Accounts are sorted in numeric order.
Account Name	Name/Description of what Account is used for.
GST Code Sales Tax Code Please configure for your jurisdiction	Tax code assigned to an account to determine the treatment of sales tax on all transactions posted to this account , for e.g. N-T (Non-Taxable), S (Standard) etc. Most income and expense accounts should show as S (unless you sell tax-free supplies), although some expenses, such as bank charges and donations should have the Tax code set to N-T. Asset, liability and equity accounts almost always have N-T as the tax code (although Fixed Asset Purchases will have tax). Note: this selection can be over-ridden at entry level when processing.
Cash Flow Section	This links through to the Cash flow report - for further information see Fig 1.
Cash Natural Allocation Type	When configuring for use with Cash Basis Accounting. In the Accounting preferences, you may have set a "Natural Allocation" for applying payments - for example, when an invoice is part paid do you allocate to disbursements first - this field determines which of these allocations this code is attributed to.
Cash Natural Allocation Order	Where Natural Allocation is set and has more than one code attributed to it - which order does this sit in? Note: If not populated, the system will pro-rata over the codes while adhering to the Natural Allocation set up in Administration > Accounting Preferences
Action Entries Only	This option allows you to specify if the account should be linked to actions (for profitability analysis). These flow through to the Exception report in Accounting. Options are: This account can have action or non-action related entries YES: only post action related entries to this account NO: never post action related entries to this account
Linked Income Account (Cost Codes Only - not shown)	This area allows you to choose which Income Account you would like your Cost to be attributed. This is used in some of the Action reporting areas.
Select Divisions	This enables you to pre-load the Accounts into the Accounts List for a division. Saving time when setting up the individual accounts list.

Click on the Submit button to save the account.

Delete or Edit a Master Account

Ensure you have selected "Master Accounts" from the Display drop down box then select the account you wish to delete/edit by clicking on it.

An asterisk ( * ) located next to an account name denotes a System Account which is linked to certain system functions. These accounts may be edited but not be deleted.

This will take you to the Edit Account screen where you can click on the Delete button to delete the account. The delete button will only be available if there have not been any transactions posted to the account. If the delete button is not available then the only way to close the account is to untick the Active check box and click Submit to save your changes.

Accounts List Editing - Tips, Tricks and Challenges

When Editing the Master Account name it will not feed down into the divisions where the account is already selected. If editing the entire accounts list (ie: initial set up) it is best to deselect all the division accounts prior to editing - when editing the master account, reselecting the division will add it with the correct name.
Header accounts can not be deselected at division level - so if renaming those, deselect at master level and go back in to update.
The account ID (to the left of the list) is the system account ID against the transactions. Should you wish to manipulate the Accounts List after transactions have been entered, the Account number can be changed, the transactions will move with the Account ID to the new number.