The chart of accounts

How Qontab structures your chart of accounts — account classes, codes and hierarchy — and how to customise it for your business.

What the chart of accounts is

The chart of accounts is the master list of every account your business can post to — the categories that classify all your money. Each account has a code, a name, an account class (asset, liability, equity, revenue or expense), a normal balance (debit or credit), an optional parent for grouping and an optional currency. Every entry you make in transactions ultimately lands on accounts from this list, which is why a clean chart is the backbone of readable financial reports.

You don’t start from a blank page: Qontab seeds a ready-made chart for every new company, tuned for Mauritian SMEs and remote founders. You can use it as-is and only add accounts when your business needs something more specific.

Account classes & codes

Accounts are organised into five classes, numbered so related accounts sit together. The seeded chart uses thousands-blocks per class:

Assets (1xxx) — e.g. 1110 Cash and Bank, 1120 Accounts Receivable, 1126 Director’s Loan Account, 1500 VAT Input.
Liabilities (2xxx) — e.g. 2110 Accounts Payable, 2120 VAT Payable, 2130 PAYE Payable, 2140 CSG Payable.
Equity (3xxx) — e.g. 3100 Owner’s Equity, 3200 Retained Earnings.
Revenue (4xxx) — e.g. 4100 Sales Revenue, 4200 Service Revenue.
Expenses (5xxx / 6xxx) — e.g. 5200 Salaries & Wages, 5210 Director’s Fees, and Mauritian payroll on-costs like 6200 CSG Employer Expense.

The class drives the account’s normal balance: assets and expenses are debit-normal, while liabilities, equity and revenue are credit-normal. That single flag is what lets Qontab compute each balance and place the account on the correct side of the trial balance.

Hierarchy & currency

Accounts form a tree. A header account (like 1100 Current Assets) groups its children but is never posted to directly — only its leaf accounts carry entries. Each account stores its parent, its depth in the tree and a path, so reports can roll child balances up into their headers automatically.

An account can also carry its own currency. That’s how a foreign-currency bank or receivable is tracked in its native currency while your statements still consolidate everything into your base currency — see multi-currency & FX for how the stored exchange rates are applied.

Customising the chart

When the seeded chart doesn’t have the account you need, add your own. A custom account needs a unique code, a name and an account class; you can also set a parent, a description, a sub-type and a currency. New accounts are never marked as system accounts, so you keep full control over them.

Open the Accounts page to see the chart grouped by class.
Choose the class and give the account a unique code and name.
Optionally nest it under a header and set a currency.
Save — the account is immediately selectable on transactions and reports.

Tip

Keep codes consistent with the class blocks (a new expense in the 5xxx range, a new bank account in the 1xxx range). Predictable codes make the trial balance and ledger far easier to scan.

Deactivating accounts

Removing an account behaves differently depending on whether it has ever been used:

Deactivate (soft delete) — an account that has carried postings is set to inactiverather than erased. It disappears from pickers but its history stays intact, and reports still include its past movements.
Hard delete — an account can be removed permanently only after it has been deactivated and only if it has no journal lines at all. Qontab refuses to hard-delete an account that still carries entries, so you can never orphan posted history.

System accounts that Qontab relies on — VAT, FX gain/loss, the disposal account — are seeded and best left in place; deactivate accounts you don’t use rather than fighting the system ones.

Manage the chart with AI (MCP)

Connected to an AI assistant through the Qontab MCP connector, the whole chart is readable and editable in plain language. Use list_accounts to browse the chart and get_account to inspect one, then create_account to add a custom account and update_account to rename it, re-parent it or change its currency. delete_account deactivates an account, and hard_delete_account removes one for good once it’s deactivated and unused.

Ask your assistant

“List my expense accounts, then add a new one called ‘Software Subscriptions’ in the 5xxx range under the Expenses header.”

FAQ

Do I have to build my chart of accounts from scratch?

No. Every new Qontab company starts with a ready-made chart seeded for Mauritian SMEs — assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses, including local accounts like VAT Payable, PAYE Payable, CSG Payable and Director's Fees. You only add or rename accounts where your business needs something extra.

Can I delete an account I never use?

An account that has never carried a posting can be removed entirely; one that has been used is deactivated instead of deleted, so its history stays intact. Qontab blocks a hard delete on any account that still has journal lines.

Why does each account have a debit or credit normal balance?

The normal balance tells Qontab which side increases the account: assets and expenses are debit-normal, while liabilities, equity and revenue are credit-normal. It drives how balances are computed and which column an account lands in on the trial balance.