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Accounting · Definition

Chart of Accounts

The structured list of accounts transactions can be posted to.

The chart of accounts is the filing system for financial data — assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses, each with a code. It determines the shape of every report you can produce.

The design trade-off is granularity. Too few accounts and you cannot analyse anything; too many and posting becomes guesswork. Most of the detail belongs in dimensions such as cost centre or project rather than in more account codes.

Also called

  • COA
  • account structure

Related terms

General Ledger

GL

The master record of every financial transaction, organised by account.

Cost Centre

A department or unit that costs are collected against for accountability.

Journal Entry

A single balanced record of debits and credits posted to the ledger.

Budget Variance

The difference between budgeted and actual figures for a period.

More in Accounting

Accounts Payable (AP) Accounts Receivable (AR) Accrual Accounting Accrued Expense Aging Report Bad Debt Provision Balance Sheet Bank Reconciliation

Chart of Accounts is not just a definition here

Accounting runs on this vocabulary every day in AWRA OpsHub — 51 of our 259 glossary terms describe things the platform actually does.

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