The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the backbone of your accounting: it defines every category into which your money movements are classified. Each account has a code, a name, a category (Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue or Expenses) and an optional default tax rate.

Every bill, invoice and journal entry line is assigned to one of these accounts, and that account decides where the amount appears in your financial reports. When you see "account code" or "account category" elsewhere in Books, this is the list it comes from.

You don't need to build this list yourself. Books comes with a ready-made Chart of Accounts based on Singapore accounting standards, and most businesses never need to change it.

If you need a more specific category, for example a dedicated expense account for a cost you want to track separately:

Q: What is a default tax rate on an account?

It is the tax rate that fills in automatically whenever you select that account, so you don't have to pick the tax rate each time. You can still change it on any individual bill, invoice or journal entry line.

Q: Can I change the type of an account that already has transactions?

Yes, but we suggest only doing this if you are totally clear on the impact. Changing the type of an account that already has transactions can affect your historical reports.

In most cases, you shouldn’t have to perform this operation.

Q: I'm moving from another accounting software. Where should I start?

Replicate the account structure from your previous system in Books before you create any bills, invoices or journal entries. Then enter your opening balances. See "Guide to entering your opening balances" under Books settings.

The Aspire MCP can help automate all this process - you can find out more in the dedicated section.