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The chart of accounts is an essential part of any SaaS startup’s accounting processes—it determines how you categorize transactions and forms the basis of key financial statements. The level of detail you establish in the chart of accounts dictates whether you can generate reports on specific expense and revenue categories or only have high-level financial data.
However, most people outside of the finance team aren’t aware of what the chart of accounts is or how it impacts other financial processes. Let’s take a look under the hood at how a SaaS chart of accounts works.
To understand what a chart of accounts is, you first need to know about general ledger accounts. Simply put, a general ledger (GL) account is a category of transactions. For example, most businesses have a GL account that groups together all their office expenses, another GL account for their payroll expenses, and so on.
A chart of accounts (also known as a COA) is a list of all the GL accounts you use to categorize your business’s transactions.
The design of your startup’s chart of accounts requires a balance between too much and too little detail. How much detail should be presented in the chart of accounts depends on the data needs of the business. However, it is important to remember that it is always possible to aggregate data if you require less detail; should you require more detail than you initially planned for, disaggregating data after the fact is much more difficult and incredibly time consuming. When in doubt, err in the direction of more detail than less.
Below is a sample SaaS chart of accounts.
NUMBER | NAME | TYPE | DETAIL TYPE |
11100 | Chase Checking | Bank | Checking |
11200 | Chase Savings | Bank | Checking |
11400 | Stripe USD | Bank | Checking |
12100 | Accounts Receivable | Accounts receivable (A/R) | Accounts Receivable (A/R) |
14100 | Prepaid Expenses | Other Current Assets | Other Current Assets |
14200 | Vendor Advances | Other Current Assets | Other Current Assets |
14300 | Loans Receivable | Other Current Assets | Loans To Officers |
15100 | Computer & Office Equipment | Fixed Assets | Fixed Asset Computers |
15200 | Furniture & Fixtures | Fixed Assets | Fixed Asset Furniture |
15400 | Leased Computer Equipment | Fixed Assets | Leasehold Improvements |
16100 | Accumulated Depreciation - Computers | Fixed Assets | Accumulated Depreciation |
16200 | Accumulated Depreciation - Furniture | Fixed Assets | Accumulated Depreciation |
16400 | Accumulated Depreciation - Leased Computer Equipment | Fixed Assets | Accumulated Depreciation |
17100 | Intangible Asset - Domain | Fixed Assets | Intangible Assets |
18100 | Accumulated amortization | Fixed Assets | Accumulated Amortization |
19100 | Security Deposits | Other Assets | Security Deposits |
21100 | Accounts Payable | Accounts Payable (A/P) | Accounts Payable (A/P) |
21200 | Credit Card | Credit Card | Credit Card |
22100 | Other Liabilities | Other Current Liabilities | Payroll Clearing |
22300 | Accrued Expenses | Other Current Liabilities | Other Current Liabilities |
22350 | Accrued Legal Expenses | Other Current Liabilities | Other Current Liabilities |
22800 | Deferred Revenue | Other Current Liabilities | Other Current Liabilities |
24100 | Capitalized Lease STL | Other Current Liabilities | Loan Payable |
28110 | Loan | Other Current Liabilities | Loan Payable |
28200 | Capitalized Lease LTL | Long Term Liabilities | Other Long Term Liabilities |
31100 | Class A Common Stock | Equity | Common Stock |
31150 | Class B Common Stock | Equity | Common Stock |
31200 | Preferred Stock - Series Seed-1 | Equity | Preferred Stock |
31220 | Preferred Stock - Series A | Equity | Preferred Stock |
31230 | Issuance Cost | Equity | Preferred Stock |
32100 | Retained Earnings | Equity | Retained Earnings |
41100 | Sales | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41110 | Activation Fee Sales | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41120 | Flat Rate Pilot Sales | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41150 | Monthly Minimum Commitment Sales | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41170 | Monthly Minimum Commitment Rebates | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41200 | Billable Expense Income | Income | Sales of Product Income |
41300 | Sales of Product Income | Income | Sales of Product Income |
49998 | Unapplied Cash Payment Income | Income | Unapplied Cash Payment Income |
51100 | Cost of Goods Sold | Cost of Goods Sold | Cost of labor - COS |
51300 | COS - Hosting/Server Cost | Cost of Goods Sold | Cost of labor - COS |
51310 | Referral Fees | Cost of Goods Sold | Other Costs of Services - COS |
51400 | Cost of Goods Sold-1 | Cost of Goods Sold | Supplies & Materials - COGS |
61101 | Salaries | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61104 | Contractors | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61105 | Executive Contractors | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61110 | Bonus | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61200 | Executive | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61200 | Marketing | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61200 | Payroll Tax Expense | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61400 | Health Care Expense | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61410 | Worker's Compensation | Expenses | Payroll Expenses |
61500 | Office Meals/Food | Expenses | Entertainment Meals |
62200 | Airlines & Transportation | Expenses | Travel |
62300 | Travel Lodging | Expenses | Travel |
64100 | Office Expenses | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
64105 | Equipment < $2,500 | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
64150 | Software Subscription | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
64200 | Dues & Subscriptions | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
64250 | Business License & Fees | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
64400 | Bank Service Charges | Expenses | Bank Charges |
64500 | Postage and Shipping | Expenses | Shipping, Freight & Delivery |
64550 | Bad Debts | Expenses | Bad Debts |
65100 | Advertising | Expenses | Advertising/Promotional |
65150 | Marketing / Website | Expenses | Advertising/Promotional |
65200 | Marketing Contractors | Expenses | Advertising/Promotional |
65250 | Sales Contractor | Expenses | Advertising/Promotional |
65800 | Client Meals & Entertainment | Expenses | Promotional Meals |
66500 | Charitable Contributions | Expenses | Charitable Contributions |
67120 | Research & Testing | Expenses | Other Business Expenses |
67125 | Research & Testing - Acquisition | Expenses | Other Business Expenses |
67130 | Research & Testing - Management | Expenses | Other Business Expenses |
67450 | Development Tools | Expenses | Office/General Administrative Expenses |
68100 | Professional Fees | Expenses | Legal & Professional Fees |
68110 | Accounting Fees | Expenses | Legal & Professional Fees |
68200 | Recruitment Expense | Expenses | Legal & Professional Fees |
68300 | Legal Services | Expenses | Legal & Professional Fees |
69100 | Rent | Expenses | Rent or Lease of Buildings |
69200 | Insurance | Expenses | Insurance |
69300 | Telecom | Expenses | Utilities |
69301 | Utilities | Expenses | Utilities |
69500 | Repairs and Maintenance | Expenses | Repair & Maintenance |
69900 | Depreciation | Expenses | Other Business Expenses |
71100 | Interest Income | Other Income | Interest Earned |
71150 | Interest Income - Related Party | Other Income | Other Miscellaneous Income |
71200 | Other Income | Other Income | Other Miscellaneous Income |
69950 | Amortization | Other Expense | Amortization |
71300 | Foreign Exchange Gain / Loss | Other Expense | Exchange Gain or Loss |
72100 | Interest Expense | Other Expense | Other Miscellaneous Expense |
81100 | Corporate Taxes | Other Expense | Other Miscellaneous Expense |
It’s important to note that every business’s chart of accounts will look different. For example, because SaaS businesses gradually recognize subscription revenue over the course of customer contracts, a SaaS company chart of accounts will include a GL account for deferred revenue as a liability. For other industries, this account may not be necessary.
The name of each GL account describes the transactions that it groups together. You should choose account names that make sense for your business model and are instantly understandable for your finance team. For example, in the sample chart of accounts above, there are eight GL accounts that the business uses to categorize various types of fixed assets:
For more guidance on managing startup expenses, see: 4 Tips To Optimize Expense Management For Startups.
The COA groups the GL accounts into broad categories known as account types. The account types will be similar for most businesses because they correspond with the key sections in the income statement (also known as the profit and loss statement or P&L) and the balance sheet. Some businesses choose to use more detailed categories, but there are five basic account types:
Based on the account type listed in the chart of accounts, software such as QuickBooks will automatically pull the data for each GL account to the relevant section in the financial statements. For example, the eight GL accounts listed in the previous section are grouped into the account type ‘Fixed Assets’. This tells your accounting software to use the data from these accounts in the assets section of the balance sheet.
Each GL account is assigned a unique number that allows you to code transactions to the right account. Most SaaS charts of accounts have account numbers between four and seven digits. Using more digits gives you space to add accounts in the future, so if you’re expecting to grow, use at least five digits in your account numbering system.
The first digit in the account number indicates the financial statement and section to which it corresponds. For example:
Financial Statement | Financial Statement Section | Account Number |
Balance sheet | Assets | 10000-19999 |
Balance sheet | Liabilities | 20000-29999 |
Balance sheet | Equity | 30000-39999 |
Income statement | Revenue | 40000-49999 |
Income statement | Cost of Sales | 50000-59999 |
Income Statement | Operating Expenses | 60000-69999 |
Income Statement | Other Income | 71000-712999 |
Income Statement | Other Expenses | 7200-72999 |
Income Statement | Tax Expenses | 81000-81999 |
Your income statement and balance sheet are generated using the information in the chart of accounts and may include the account name, account type, and type detail. For example, the following income statement is generated from the sample chart of accounts shown earlier in this article.
At Zeni, our team of experts has years of experience helping SaaS startups build a financial foundation that supports their growth—including creating and managing the startup chart of accounts. Zeni is a modern, full-service finance firm that provides SaaS startups with outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO solutions to handle everything from startup budgeting to financial modeling. Zeni’s accountants will help you decide on the level of detail, design a GAAP-compliant chart of accounts, and set it up in your accounting software, so you have everything you need to generate financial reports.
Ready to get professional support with your SaaS accounting setup? Click here to book a call with Zeni.
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