Chart of accounts

The chart of accounts is the list of all the accounts a company posts entries to. Every business transaction is recorded in one or more accounts, and the chart of accounts determines how the bookkeeping is structured and summarised into the income statement and balance sheet.

Most Swedish companies use the BAS chart of accounts, in which the accounts are numbered in classes: 1 for assets, 2 for equity and liabilities, 3 for revenue, 4 for purchases, 5 to 7 for other expenses and 8 for financial items, year-end appropriations and tax. Account 1930, for example, is the business bank account and 3001 a common sales revenue account.

The chart of accounts is adapted to the business. A restaurant needs accounts for different VAT rates, a haulage company for vehicle costs. Setting up the chart of accounts correctly from the start makes the bookkeeping faster and the reports more useful.