· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
What is chart of accounts setup?
Chart of accounts setup is the design of the list of accounts a business uses to record income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. A good chart is short enough to code consistently and detailed enough to show gross margin, overhead and cash the way owners and lenders think. It is set up once, then protected with rules.
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Chart of accounts: what we do and how it runs
Chart of accounts setup is the design of the list of accounts a business uses to record income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. A good chart is short enough to code consistently and detailed enough to show gross margin, overhead and cash the way owners and lenders think. It is set up once, then protected with rules.
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What it is
Chart of accounts setup is the design of the list of accounts a business uses to record income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. A good chart is short enough to code consistently and detailed enough to show gross margin, overhead and cash the way owners and lenders think. It is set up once, then protected with rules.
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What you get
An industry-specific chart built for the reports you actually read
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How it runs
Classes, locations, jobs or tracking categories designed alongside it
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Discovery call
A 30-minute conversation about how revenue is earned, what drives cost, who reads the reports and what they need to see. We ask for the last set of statements and any lender or franchisor report formats.
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A named accountant, a backup and a team lead
Inside your own software, on a fixed close calendar, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or start a quote.
Get a custom quote 06 / 06
Who it is for
New businesses
You are opening the accounting file for the first time and want a structure that will still make sense at ten times the revenue, not the software default.
Owners with an overgrown chart
Years of adding accounts on the fly have left 300 lines, half unused, and a P&L nobody can read. You want it redesigned and merged without losing history.
Businesses adding reporting needs
A lender, franchisor or investor now wants numbers by location, job or department. The chart and its tracking dimensions need to deliver that from the next close.
What's included
- Interview on how you sell, what you buy and which reports you need
- Industry-specific chart drafted from a reviewed template, then adjusted to your business
- Revenue and cost-of-sales lines aligned so gross margin is visible
- Classes, locations, jobs, departments or tracking categories designed
- Account numbering scheme applied where your software supports it
- Unused and duplicate accounts merged with history preserved
- Mapping document showing where every common transaction belongs
- Bank rules built in your software so routine items code themselves
- Products, services and items mapped to the correct income and cost accounts
- Sales tax, VAT or GST codes reviewed and mapped to liability accounts
- Report layouts saved for P&L, balance sheet and any by-dimension view
- One-page guide for your team on coding decisions and who to ask
Deliverables and KPIs
| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Chart of accounts design | Approved account list with numbering, types and descriptions | Per project |
| Tracking dimensions | Classes, locations or categories built and tested with sample entries | Per project |
| Mapping document | Every recurring vendor, customer and item mapped to an account | Per project |
| Bank rules | Rules cover at least 80% of routine monthly transactions | Per project |
| Saved reports | P&L, balance sheet and dimension reports run cleanly on the new chart | Per project |
| Post-setup review | First month's coding checked against the mapping and corrected | Once |
KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement.
How it works
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Discovery call
A 30-minute conversation about how revenue is earned, what drives cost, who reads the reports and what they need to see. We ask for the last set of statements and any lender or franchisor report formats.
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Draft chart and dimensions
Within three business days you receive a draft chart, the proposed classes or tracking categories, and a sample P&L showing how it will read. You mark it up; we revise once or twice until it fits.
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Build in your software
A named accountant creates or restructures the chart in your file, merges old accounts with history intact, maps items and tax codes, and builds bank rules from your recent transactions.
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Test, document and hand over
We post a sample month, run the saved reports and correct anything that lands wrong. You receive the mapping document and coding guide, and we review the first live month's coding.
Software we work in
How much does chart of accounts cost?
Chart of accounts setup is a fixed-fee project. The fee depends on whether we are starting from an empty file or restructuring one with history, how many tracking dimensions you need and how many items and vendors must be mapped. Pricing depends on volume and scope, so we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
What moves the quote
- New file versus restructuring a chart with years of transactions
- Number of entities, locations, jobs or departments to track
- Count of products, services and recurring vendors to map
- External report formats to satisfy: lender covenants, franchisor templates, grant budgets
Market benchmarks
| Market | Typical range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US | Project work billed within the range of outsourced bookkeeping plans, $150 to $1,600 per month, or hourly | indinero, RadCity, NerdWallet (2026) |
| UK | £20 to £55 per hour for bookkeeping and setup work | UK provider pricing surveys (2026) |
| Canada | C$30 to C$90 per hour for freelance bookkeeping and setup | Canadian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
| Australia | A$40 to A$100 per hour for bookkeepers | Australian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
Third-party ranges for orientation, not our prices.
Get a custom quote No setup fee. Month-to-month.
Chart of accounts for your industry
Security and compliance
- Accountant-role access only; no bank access is needed for a chart project
- A backup is taken before any account is merged or renamed
- MFA on every login, access logged, NDA per engagement
Full control list on the security page and country rules on the compliance page. Certifications are listed only when held.
Frequently asked questions
How much do chart of accounts setup services cost?
Pricing depends on volume and scope, and we send a custom quote within 1 business day. A chart for a new single-entity file is a short project; restructuring a chart with years of history and several tracking dimensions takes longer. As a market reference, UK bookkeeping and setup work is billed at £20 to £55 per hour and Australian bookkeepers charge A$40 to A$100 per hour (provider surveys, 2026).
Can you redesign my chart without losing history?
Yes. In QuickBooks Online and Xero, accounts are merged or archived rather than deleted, so prior transactions move to the new account and old reports still tie. We take a backup first and give you a before-and-after mapping so your CPA can follow every change.
How many accounts should a small business have?
Most businesses under $10M in revenue run well on 60 to 120 accounts. Detail belongs in dimensions such as classes, locations, jobs or tracking categories, not in extra accounts. A chart with 300 lines usually means the same expense is coded three different ways, which is what we fix.
Do you use industry templates?
We start from a reviewed template for your industry, such as construction with job costing, restaurants with prime cost, nonprofits with functional expenses, or agencies with revenue by service line, then tailor it. The template gets you the right shape; the interview gets you the right detail.
What are classes, locations and tracking categories?
They are labels applied to transactions so one chart can report many ways. QuickBooks Online uses classes and locations; Xero uses tracking categories; Zoho Books uses reporting tags. We design them with the chart so you can see a P&L by store, job, department or program without duplicating accounts.
Will my bookkeeper follow the new chart?
That is what the mapping document and bank rules are for. Every recurring vendor, customer and item is mapped, rules code routine transactions automatically, and the coding guide covers judgment calls. If we also do your monthly bookkeeping, our team applies the mapping from the first close.
Can you set up the chart as part of a software migration?
Yes, and it is the best time to do it. Our accounting software setup and migration service moves your data to QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books, and the chart is redesigned during the move so history maps onto the new structure cleanly.
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