Hi,
I'm with Jo. The account numbers would be more like 6126-1000 (for cash), 6126-2000 (for payables), etc. The Store number is the first segment and the second segment is the main account. Navigate to the Account Format go Administration | Setup | Company | Account Format.
I'm still going to champion using 5 characters for the main account.
In setting up accounts, there are many fields on the Account Maintenance window that deserve special attention.
Account Alias: you can use this as a nickname for the account. Instead of remembering the whole account number, you can name the account like 'Travel', 'Office Supplies', etc.
Allow Account Entry: check this box only if you want people to be able to make direct Journal entries to this account. I would uncheck this box for all of my control accounts. Accounts like 'Cash', 'Accounts Payable', 'Accounts Receivable', etc. In my opinion, nobody should be able to make direct entries to an account that is updated by a subledger. The default is that each account allows account entry when it is created.
Category: you can group accounts by category in the financial statement reporters.
Posting Type: this is critically important that the account be classified correctly at year-end closing. All Profit and Loss accounts are closed to Retained Earnings, Balance sheet accounts will carry forward the ending balance at close.
Typical Balance: this is more of a tricky one. What it is actually asking you is whether you want the amount to appear as positive or negative in it's financial statement section. For instance, Accumulated Depreciation should be a Typical Debit Balance account because it should be a contra-asset account. You want it to display on the financial statements as a negative number.
Level of Posting from Series: this works in collaboration with the Posting Setup checkbox of 'Use Account Settings'. If this checkbox is checked in the Posting Setup window, then the system looks to these fields to determine whether the system should post in summary or in detail for each account. The default is Detail.
Include in Lookup: this setting does not get the respect it deserves. This setting determines which accounts are included in the initial display of accounts when you hit the account lookup button. For instance, if you are in the payables distribution window and you hit the account lookup button, you probably do not want Cash to come up as the first available account. The default is that each account is marked for all series. I would change that. I would only mark allowable expense accounts to display when I initially hit the account lookup button. By only showing expense accounts, you save the user from having to scroll through the whole chart of accounts to get down to the expense accounts
User Defined Fields: these fields can also be used in reporting. I've seen these fields used to indicate which line the account should appear on in a separate report, like a bank draw report. I've also seen them used to assign the account to a specific accounting clerk for reconciliation purposes. Use your imagination and use these fields to enhance your ability to sort and group account balances.
Good luck!
Kind regards,
Leslie
