Accounts provide a means for grouping similar transactions. For example, if your business pays rent for the use of its premises, you would create a rent expense account and then allocate all rent payments to that account.
Some accounts can be linked to specific system features and transactions. We call these linked accounts and they save you time by not having to select the account each time you need to use it. Learn more about linked accounts. If you're just getting started, find out how to import an accounts list into MYOB.
Take a look at this quick overview of accounts:
Accessing your accounts list
You can see all accounts that are already set up for you by going to the Accounting menu and choosing Chart of accounts.
MYOB may already have the accounts you need. If not, learn how to add, edit and delete accounts.
If you're unsure, ask your accountant which accounts you'll need (you can invite them to access your MYOB business - see Invite your accountant or bookkeeper).
Need to print or export your accounts list?
Try the Accounts list report (Reporting menu > Reports > Accounts list).
Account numbers
Each account is identified by a unique five-digit number. The first digit indicates the account’s classification (for example, accounts starting with 1 are asset accounts). The remaining four digits determine its location within the classification. The lower the number, the higher up in the list it appears. For example, account 1-1100 appears above 1-1200.
Account classifications and types
The accounts list groups accounts into eight classifications—Asset, Liability, Equity, Income, Cost of Sales, Expense, Other Income and Other Expense. Within each account classification there is at least one account type.
Account classifications and types are described in the following table.
Classification | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Asset | Bank | Money in the bank, for example, in a cheque or savings account. |
Accounts Receivable | Money owed to you by your customers. | |
Other Current Asset | Assets that, if required, can be turned into cash within a year. These may include your term deposits. | |
Fixed Asset | Assets which have a long life, for example, buildings, cars and computers. Fixed assets are usually depreciated. | |
Other Asset | Other assets you own such as loans made to others and goodwill. | |
Liability | Credit Card | Repayments required to service credit card debt. |
Accounts Payable | Money owed by you to your suppliers. | |
Other Current Liability | Money owed by you that is due in less than a year, for example, GST. | |
Long Term Liability | Money owed by you that is due in more than one year, for example, a business loan. | |
Other Liability | Other money you owe. | |
Equity | Equity | The business’s net worth, that is, its assets minus its liabilities. Common equity accounts are current year earnings, retained earnings and shareholders’ equity. |
Income | Income | Revenue from the sale of goods and services. |
Cost of Sales | Cost of Sales | The direct cost of selling your goods and providing services, for example, purchase costs and freight charges. |
Expense | Expense | The day-to-day expenses of running your business, for example, utility bills, employee wages and cleaning. |
Other Income | Other Income | Other revenues, for example, interest earned on savings and dividends paid from shares. |
Other Expense | Other Expense | Other expenses, for example, interest charged. |
Header and detail accounts
Your accounts list consists of:
detail accounts—sometimes called sub-accounts, these are the accounts to which you allocate transactions.
header accounts—these accounts group related detail accounts to help you organise your accounts list.
For example, you could group your telephone, electricity and gas expense accounts using a Utilities header account. This makes it easier for you to locate the utility expense accounts in the accounts list and to see your combined utility expenses.
You group accounts by indenting the detail accounts located directly below a header account. For more information, see Adding, editing and deleting accounts.
Note that:
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You cannot allocate transactions to a header account.
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The balance of a header account is the sum of the detail accounts indented directly below it.
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You can have up to three header account levels.
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How you group your accounts can affect how totals and subtotals are calculated on reports.
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Top level header accounts, such as 2-0000, cannot be edited.
FAQs
What is the 'GST Balance' account?
The GST collected and paid on sales and purchases are sometimes tracked using default GST Paid and GST Collected accounts.
But if your accounts list has a single GST Balance account instead, this ensures that the net GST amount on your GST Return or BAS matches the net amount in the ledger. You can also set this account as your GST clearing account under your Report settings.
Why a single account?
Benefits include:
The ledger records net GST by transaction regardless of the account type selected. A GST Balance account in the ledger prevents a mismatch between how GST is allocated in the ledger compared to the BAS/GST Return allocations.
It saves time when allocating BAS/GST Return payments as the payment doesn't need to be split between GST collected and paid.
Accountants love it because they often combine GST collected and paid accounts when preparing financial statements.
Gross and GST amounts can be viewed on the General ledger report, and the GST reports also can show Account Name and Account Number with sorting options.
Accounts will be called categories
Accounts, which you use in MYOB Business to group similar transactions, are soon going to be called categories. We're making this change because we know that categories is a more familiar word for this type of function. It also helps to distinguish bank and credit card accounts in the real world, from how you 'categorise' transactions (get it?) in MYOB.
The Chart of accounts page will become Categories (Chart of accounts):
Categories work exactly the same as accounts
Apart from their new name, categories are exactly the same as accounts. They'll be grouped exactly as they were previously. You'll still be able to create, edit, delete and import them, assign them to transactions and view them in reports.
With the change of accounts to categories, the Categories feature in the AccountRight desktop app will be renamed as Cost Centres.