Account Codes

Each account code you enter in the general ledger must be unique. You cannot have the code "10000" entered twice. Codes are also sorted and listed in reports in alphabetical, not numerical sequence. This is an important point to remember. For example, when printing a report accounts may appear in a sequence such as:

0095

11

25

The number "0095" is the highest number in the sequence so logically it should appear last. It appears first because CAPITAL will consider the first digit as the most important in determining the sorting sequence, not the value of the number. For neatness and also to reduce confusion both for yourself and the computer, account codes should always have the same length. In the above example all numbers should be padded with zeros to achieve this. For example:

0001

0002

0007

0011

0025

0095

The sequence is now sorted the way we intended. For reasons that will become clear once you begin to use the report designer/editor, account codes must begin with a number, although you can mix letters and numbers and other symbols into your account codes if you wish, after the first digit. The key point is that your coding of account codes should be consistent.

It is also important to assign codes in groups depending on the accounts you are dealing with. For example, your sales accounts might be grouped as follows:

• sales - general

• 020 sales - whitegoods

• 030 sales - music

• 040 sales - computers

And your assets as:

• 010 cash in bank

• 020 debtors

• 030 inventory

And so forth. Assigning related accounts to the same sequence of numbers will make the task of constructing financial reports very easy using the quick report writer. Also notice that there are gaps between the numbers. If we needed to add an account between two other accounts this would not be a problem because we have left space:

• 010 cash in bank ANZ

• 012 cash in bank CBA

• 020 debtors

• 030 inventory

This is better than the following approach:

• 010 01 cash in bank ANZ

• 010 02 cash in bank CBA

• 020 debtors

• 030 inventory

The above approach is acceptable, but more difficult to read.

You may also wish to group your account codes by department. For example:

• 010-01 cash in bank

• 010-02 cash in bank

• 020-01 debtors

• 020-02 debtors

• 030-01 inventory

• 030-02 inventory

Note that the extension that signifies the department follows the account code. This is so that like accounts can still be grouped together. Assets for all departments still begin with the account code sequence "40000". This approach, however, makes it more difficult for CAPITAL GL Controller's report writer to construct reports based on start and end account code ranges. An even better approach would be:

• 0-01-010 cash in bank

• 0-01-020 debtors

• 0-01-030 inventory

• 0-02-010 cash in bank

• 0-02-020 debtors

• 0-03-030 inventory

The first digit represents the account code type or classification, the next two the department, and the remaining three the particular account.

Not only will departmental accounts be grouped neatly together when printing reports, but the sequence is consistent alphabetically.

If you will be entering multi-department account codes you can specify an input mask that ensures that the coding you input is entered correctly. A mask can guarantee, for example, that a dash is always placed between the third and forth digit and fifth and sixth. It also reduces the amount of typing you have to do. For more information on input masks, refer to the reference guide under general operation set-up.