Chart of Accounts

Problem

Setting up a 'chart of accounts' in MacNail construction accounting software for Macintosh and Windows

Diagnosis

When people ask how to do a 'chart of accounts', you have to ask them what they want to accomplish.

Usually this comes from someone who has used Quickbooks, MYOB or another program that uses a 'classic' chart of accounts to identify payees, expenses, etc.

Solution

1. To distinguish between vendors, that info goes in Master Index and then in the 'payee' column.
2. To distinguish between costs for different jobs, use the 'job' column.
3. To distinguish between different categories of construction costs on a job, use the 'cat' column and job costing.
4. To split up overhead costs such as utilities, supplies, etc, use the Office Cost Control file. It already comes with basic 'overhead' type costs, and they can add/change/delete the list or change the codes if they so desire.

We aren't a double-entry system where you create a zillion accounts to handle each kind of transaction, but instead have different places to put different types of information.

NOTE-- Our newer Goldenseal accounting software uses similar concepts as MacNail, but it does include a Chart of Accounts, and has many more general accounting features

Comments

Entered 1/8/93 by Dennis. Updated 11/7/2010.