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Chart of Accounts
The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the foundation of your accounting system. It defines every account where transactions are recorded — from bank accounts and receivables to revenue and expense categories.
Viewing the Chart of Accounts
Navigate to Accounting > Chart of Accounts to see your full account structure. The COA is displayed as a tree, with expandable groups and individual ledger accounts nested within them.
- Group accounts (parent nodes) organize related accounts but do not hold transactions directly.
- Ledger accounts (leaf nodes) are the accounts where transactions are actually posted.
Click any account to view its details, including its type, parent group, and balance.
Account Types
Every account belongs to one of five root types:
| Type | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Asset | What you own | Bank accounts, accounts receivable, equipment |
| Liability | What you owe | Accounts payable, loans, credit cards |
| Equity | Owner's stake | Retained earnings, owner's capital |
| Income | Revenue earned | Sales, service revenue, interest income |
| Expense | Costs incurred | Rent, salaries, office supplies, utilities |
Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts
Kraal offers three ways to establish your COA:
1. Use a Template
Select from a library of industry-standard templates. Templates provide a pre-built account structure that covers common needs. You can customize the template after import by adding, renaming, or reorganizing accounts.
2. AI-Assisted Builder
Describe your business and Kraal's AI will generate a recommended chart of accounts tailored to your industry and size. Review the suggested structure, make any adjustments, and confirm to create the accounts.
3. Sync from ERPNext
If you already have an ERPNext instance with an established chart of accounts, you can sync it directly into Kraal. This pulls your existing account hierarchy so you can start working immediately without re-creating anything.
Refreshing and Syncing
After initial setup, you can refresh your COA from ERPNext at any time to pull in accounts that were added or modified. Navigate to the COA view and click Sync from ERPNext to update.
TIP
Syncing merges changes from ERPNext into your Kraal COA. It will not delete accounts that exist in Kraal but not in ERPNext.
COA Status Indicators
The COA view displays a status badge showing the current state of your chart of accounts:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ready | The COA is fully set up and available for use. |
| Pending | Setup has been started but is not yet complete. |
| Upload Needed | The COA needs to be pushed to ERPNext before it takes effect. |
| Syncing | A sync operation is currently in progress. |
| Error | Something went wrong during setup or sync. Review the error details and retry. |
Accounting Dimensions
Beyond the standard account structure, Kraal supports accounting dimensions that add extra classification to your transactions:
- Cost Centers — Track profitability by department, branch, or business unit.
- Projects — Allocate income and expenses to specific projects or engagements.
- Departments — Categorize transactions by organizational department.
Dimensions are configured in your accounting settings and become available as optional fields on invoices, journal entries, and payment entries. They allow you to generate detailed reports segmented by any dimension without duplicating accounts.
Using the COA When Categorizing Transactions
When you create invoices, journal entries, or payment entries, you select accounts from the COA for each line item. The account picker shows the tree structure, so you can drill into the correct group and select the appropriate ledger account.
For transaction processing and categorization, the COA determines which accounts are available for mapping bank transactions to your books. Keeping your COA well-organized makes day-to-day transaction categorization faster and more accurate.