Ledger account

The View Account page shows one ledger account of a company’s chart of accounts: its details and balance and, depending on its type, the journal entries posted to it or the accounts under it. From here you change or delete the account, and add accounts under a parent account. The same page, titled Create new Account, is where you create an account with Add New.

To open an account:

select its row on the Chart of Accounts page;
select an account on a journal entry;
on an account’s page, select its Parent, or a row on its Sub-Accounts tab.

◄ Back to List takes you back to the Chart of Accounts.

A parent account, shown with a folder icon, groups the accounts under it and shows their total; nothing can be posted to it. A child account takes postings. What the page shows below the details depends on which it is:

Account	Tabs
Child account	Journal Entries and Files
Parent account	Sub-Accounts

For how the chart of accounts is organized, see Chart of accounts. For the terms, see the Accounting glossary.

Account details

The top of the page shows the account’s code and name, and its status: Active, or Disabled for an inactive account, which is also greyed out.

Field	Shows
Account Group	The account’s category, such as Assets. The account group itself is shown in the account list and when you modify the account.
Parent	The parent account, which you can select to open it, or - for an account at the top of its group.
Code	The account code.
Sub-Accounts	On a parent account: how many accounts sit directly under it.
Currency	On a child account: the currency it is held in. This is the company’s base currency, unless the account is held in a foreign currency.
Special Code	RE on the retained earnings account. Not shown on other accounts.
Updated	How long ago the account was created or last changed.
Balance	The balance on today’s date, in the company’s base currency, for example XOF 1,250,000. A parent account shows the total of all the accounts under it. For an account held in a foreign currency, the balance in that currency comes first, followed by its value in the base currency in brackets, for example USD 5,000.00 [EUR 4,500.00].

Balances are shown on the account’s usual side: debit balances for assets and expenses, credit balances for liabilities, equity and revenue. A negative amount is a balance on the other side. For foreign-currency balances, see Multi-currency accounting.

The pencil icon (Modify) and the bin icon (Delete) are at the right, next to the balance.

Change an account

Select the pencil icon (Modify). The page title changes to Edit Account.
Change the Title, the Code, Active or the Special Code.
Select Update, or Cancel to leave the account as it was.

The Group, the Parent and, on a child account, the Currency are shown but cannot be changed. Neither can the account type, parent or child. If one of them is wrong, create the account again with the right settings, then make the wrong one inactive or delete it.

Field	Rules
Title	The account name. Required, up to 100 characters.
Code	Required, up to 30 characters: letters, digits and `.` `-` `/` `_`. TrakIT removes spaces and stores the code in capitals. A code can be used only once in the company for accounts held in the same currency.
Active	Turn it off to make the account inactive. See Inactive accounts.
Special Code	Leave it empty, or enter RE on the retained earnings account. See Retained earnings.

Inactive accounts

You can make an account inactive only when its balance is zero, counting all its entries whatever their date. For a parent account, that is the total of the accounts under it.

An inactive account stays in the chart, in grey, but nothing can be posted to it. It is no longer offered for journal entries or as a default account, and documents whose postings would use it can no longer be finalized or approved: the message says One or more accounts are invalid, disabled, belong to another company, or cannot be posted to directly.

So before you make an account inactive, check that it is not one of the default accounts, the bank or cash account of a payment method, or the ledger account of an account master (see Setting up accounting), and choose another account there first.

To use the account again, turn Active back on.

Retained earnings

Closing a financial year moves the year’s profit or loss to the active account whose Special Code is RE. To mark it, modify the account, enter RE in Special Code, and select Update. See Setting up accounting.

The account must be a child account in an Equity group, held in the company’s base currency. Only one active account of the company can have the code: to move it to another account, clear it on the first account. RE is the only special code.

Delete an account

Select the bin icon (Delete). When the account is deleted, the Chart of Accounts page opens.

An account can be deleted only if nothing refers to it: no journal entry has a line on it, no account sits under it, and no written-off invoice uses it as its write-off account. Otherwise TrakIT says Cannot delete account with references. An account that is no longer needed but has entries can be made inactive instead, once its balance is zero.

As when you make an account inactive, first check that it is not a default account, the account of a payment method or the ledger account of an account master.

Create an account

You reach this form with Add New on the Chart of Accounts page. The account is created in the category of the tab you were on. To add an account under a parent account, you can also use Add a sub-account.

Choose the Account Type: Child for an account that takes postings, Parent for an account that groups others.
Choose the Group: one of the account groups of the category.
Choose the Parent: the list shows the parent accounts of that group. A child account needs one. For a parent account, leave — to place it at the top of the group, or choose the parent account to place it under.
Enter the Title and the Code. The rules are those of Change an account.
For a child account, choose the Currency. Leave [Company Currency] unless the account is held in a foreign currency, such as a bank account in US dollars. The list shows the company’s Available Currencies.
Leave Active on.
Enter a Special Code only for the retained earnings account.
Select Create.

The new account’s page opens. Cancel takes you back to the Chart of Accounts without creating anything.

Check the type, group, parent and currency before you select Create: they cannot be changed afterwards. For what an account held in a foreign currency can and cannot be used for, see Multi-currency accounting.

Journal Entries tab

On an active child account, the Journal Entries tab lists the journal entry lines posted to the account, in every financial year, the most recent first, 20 per page. The number of lines found is shown above the list, or No Transactions Found.

Column	Shows
ID	The journal entry number.
Title	The title of the entry. Select it to open the journal entry.
Date	The transaction date: the date the entry counts in the books.
Reference	The entry’s reference.
Debit, Credit	The amount of the line, in the company’s base currency, on its side.
Currency, for example USD	Only for an account held in a foreign currency: the amount of the line in that currency.
Executed By	Who posted the entry, and when.

An entry with more than one line on the account appears once for each line. To see where an entry comes from, see the list of titles on the Journal entries page.

Files tab

The Files tab of a child account is empty: you cannot attach files to a ledger account.

Sub-Accounts tab

On a parent account, the Sub-Accounts tab lists the accounts directly under it. Accounts further down appear on the pages of their own parent accounts. The number of accounts is shown above the list, or No Sub-Accounts Found.

Parent accounts have a folder icon. Inactive accounts are grey. Select a row to open the account.

Column	Shows
Code	The account code.
Name	The account name.
Currency	The currency the account is held in: the company’s base currency, or a foreign currency.
Balance	The balance on today’s date, in the company’s base currency. For a parent account, the total of all the accounts under it.
Updated By	Who created or last changed the account, and how long ago.

Add a sub-account

Select Add… above the list.
In Add Sub-Account, choose the Account Type: Child for an account that takes postings, Parent for another level of grouping.
Enter the Account Code, up to 20 characters. The rules are those of Change an account.
Enter the Account Name, up to 100 characters.
For a child account, choose the Currency. Leave [Company Currency] unless the account is held in a foreign currency. The list shows the company’s Available Currencies.
Select Add.

The new account is active, in the same account group as this account, and appears in the list. If it cannot be created, the popup stays open with the reason. To give the new account a special code, open it and change it.

The type and currency cannot be changed afterwards, so check them before you select Add.

Messages

Message	What to do
Name is required or Code is required	Enter the name or the code.
Name contains possible Html tags or disallowed text	Remove the `<` signs from the name, and do not start it with `=`, `+` or `@`.
Code contains invalid characters	Use only letters, digits and `.` `-` `/` `_`.
Code code is already used by account ‘name’	Choose another code, or check whether the account you need already exists.
Please select account type or Please select the Account Type	Choose Parent or Child.
A child account must have a parent account	Choose a Parent, or make the account a parent account.
Special code can only be RE (Retained Earnings) or left empty	Enter `RE` or nothing.
The Retained Earnings account must allow posting and be in the company base currency	Use a child account held in the company currency.
The Retained Earnings account must be in an Equity group	Use an account in the Equity category.
Account is already this company’s Retained Earnings account - clear its Special code first	Clear Special Code on that account first.
Cannot disable an account with a non-zero balance	Bring the balance to zero with a journal entry first.
Cannot delete account with references	The account has entries, accounts under it, or is the write-off account of an invoice. Make it inactive instead.
You do not have the permission to create, update or delete accounts	Your role does not allow it: see below.

Who can use this page

Your role needs these permissions in the Chart of Accounts section:

Permission	Allows you to
Read	Open the page, and see the account’s details, balance, journal entries and sub-accounts.
Create	Create accounts with Add New, and add sub-accounts with Add….
Update	Change accounts with Modify.
Delete	Delete accounts.

The pencil and bin icons appear for everyone who can open the page; without the permission, TrakIT refuses the change with a message.

You can open and create accounts only in the companies you have access to. For an account of another company, TrakIT shows Authorization Failed instead of the page. System administrators can open the accounts of every company.

To open a journal entry from the Journal Entries tab, your role also needs Read in the Journal Entries section.