The chart of accounts

The chart of accounts lists your company’s accounts. To Bill starts from the Swiss SME chart of accounts (the “Kontenrahmen KMU”), adapted to your legal form. You can add your own accounts to it, for example a second bank account.

Before you start

• The chart of accounts is created when your books are opened: see Turn on accounting.
• To add or change an account, you need the right to keep the books.
• In the Simple display, the chart of accounts is under More, in the accounting menu. See Simple or Expert.

View the chart of accounts

Open Accounting › Chart of accounts. The accounts are grouped by class: 1 assets, 2 liabilities, 3 revenue, 4 to 8 expenses, 9 closing.

1. New account: adds an account. Shortcut: N.
2. Search a number or a name: filters the list.
3. On each line, + adds an account right after this one, and the pencil opens the account.

The Notes column flags the special accounts:

Note	What it means
System	To Bill needs it to post your invoices, expenses, VAT and year-end closing. It can be renamed, but not switched off or deleted.
Contra	It reduces another account of its class, such as accumulated depreciation or the bad debt allowance.
VAT · box 400	Its balance feeds this box of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) VAT return.
Switched off	Hidden from account lists. Its history stays in your books.

Add an account

1. Click New account, or + on the line of the account after which you want to place it.

2. Enter the Account number: 4 to 6 digits. The first one gives the class. To Bill checks that the number is free and shows where the account will go: its class, its group, the account it follows and its kind.

3. Enter the Account name. The chart of accounts exists in four languages: languages left empty take the first name entered.

   

4. Turn on Contra account if it reduces another account of its class.

5. Click Add the account.

If the number is already taken, To Bill suggests the first free number: click Use to take it.

Classes 6 to 8

They mostly hold expenses, but also some revenue, such as financial income. For an account in these classes, choose its Kind of account.

Rename, switch off or delete an account

Click an account’s pencil. Its window opens.

• Rename: change its name in one or more languages, then click Save.
• Switch off: turn off In use. The account disappears from the lists, but its history stays in your books. You can put it back in use later.
• Delete: only an account on which nothing has ever been posted. Click Delete, then confirm.

Where this account is used tells you what depends on the account before you act: a default account, an expense category, an item, a bank account, a fixed asset, a recurring entry, its balance in the open financial year and the number of entry lines.

An account still in use

An account that has a balance in the open financial year, or that your settings still use, stays in use. First change those settings, or clear the account’s balance, then switch it off.

Legal basis

• The books are retained for ten years, in the form in which they were kept: an account that carries entries cannot be deleted. Art. 958f para. 1 CO.
• The general ledger consists of the accounts, on which the balance sheet and income statement are based, and of the journal: Art. 1 para. 2 GeBüV, the Ordinance on the Keeping and Retention of Accounting Records (German version: fedlex has no English one).

See an account’s transactions

In an account’s window, the icon at the top right opens its general ledger: all its transactions and its balance over time. See Trial balance and general ledger.

The accounts used by default

The account for each sale, each means of payment and each expense category is chosen in Accounting › Settings. See Accounting settings.