Your chart of accounts is listed under Accounting | Categories, and is where you will see an overview of your 'categories' (nominals/heading codes). These are what you will be selecting in data entry, to allocate all of your business transactions to.
Each business will have a pre-set list of categories, with additional income and expense categories created based on selections made within the Company Settings | Farming Activities screen.
Chart of Accounts structure
The Chart of Accounts is split into 5 sections:
When creating a new category, you will need to choose where it sits in your chart of accounts by selecting the relevant category type, which will determine the affect of the category on your reports.
The category code assigned will determine where the category sits within a report - if you wish for related categories to be next to each other on reports then make sure their codes are close together.
You will also be prompted to set the default tax status which will appear by default when that category is selected in data entry. This can always be changed within the categories screen or at the point of data entry if needs be. If you do not fill this field in, items will be treated as Standard rated by default, however you can always change the Tax code in an individual transaction.
If a category is marked as Inactive then it will no longer appear if this category is no longer required and you wish to be able to filter it out of the Category report, then it can be marked as inactive.
Expense category - 'Direct Costs' tick box - Expense codes can be marked as ‘Is Direct Cost’? This means that it is a variable cost (for example seeds, fertiliser, feed etc.) rather a general running cost. Do not worry if you get this wrong – it can be amended later – but will affect the layout of certain reports such as the Profit & Loss which will have sub-totals for each type of expense.
Adding Categories
New categories can be added within:
the categories screen
data entry screens - when choosing a category there will be an option to 'Add New
the quick links menu (see below)
Managing your Categories
Categories are managed within Accounting | Categories.
From here you can add, edit or delete, or mark them as 'inactive' (where the category remains but no longer appears in data entry screens).
Clicking the pencil icon will allow to you edit the name, category code and default tax code of an existing category, as well as the option to make it inactive.
Filtering and exporting the Categories screen
Within the categories screen, you can use the filter option to hide or view categories with no balance or those that you have marked as inactive.
If you wish to export a list of your categories to review, or keep as a copy outside of Farmplan Business Cloud, then select the Excel button to produce a spreadsheet which can be saved or printed.
