Accounting

Sample Chart of Accounts: 9 Real Examples You Can Copy

A chart of accounts is the list of categories your business uses to record every transaction. Assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses. If your books are a filing cabinet, the chart of accounts is the set of labels on the folders. You are probably here because you want to see ...

Bookkipa September 7, 202627 min read

On this page

A standard sample chart of accounts
How chart of accounts numbering works
Cash basis vs accrual: which accounts you actually need
Sample charts of accounts by business type
Freelancer and consultant
Ecommerce seller
Restaurant and cafe
Construction contractor
Real estate agent
Trucking and delivery
Salon and personal services
Nonprofit organization
Mapping your chart of accounts to Schedule C
Six accounts almost everyone forgets
Five mistakes that wreck a chart of accounts
How to set up your chart of accounts in an hour
Download the templates
Skip the setup entirely
Frequently asked questions

You are probably here because you want to see one, not read a lecture about one. So this post is mostly tables. There is a standard 47 account chart you can copy right now, eight more charts for specific business types, and a column almost nobody else publishes: which IRS Schedule C line each account rolls up to. Everything on this page is downloadable as CSV or Excel at the bottom.

One thing to know before you copy anything. Most sample charts of accounts you find online are built for accrual accounting. If you are a sole proprietor or a single member LLC, you almost certainly file on a cash basis, and a good chunk of the accounts in those samples will sit at zero forever. I cover exactly which ones to delete in the cash basis section below.

A standard sample chart of accounts

Start here if your business does not fit neatly into a category. This chart covers a service or product business filing Schedule C, and it works for the vast majority of small businesses under a million dollars in revenue.

Code	Account Name	Type	Financial Statement	Schedule C Tax Line
1000	Cash on Hand	Asset	Balance Sheet
1010	Business Checking	Asset	Balance Sheet
1020	Business Savings	Asset	Balance Sheet
1030	Tax Savings	Asset	Balance Sheet
1090	Undeposited Funds	Asset	Balance Sheet
1400	Furniture and Equipment	Asset	Balance Sheet	Line 13 Depreciation
1410	Computer Equipment	Asset	Balance Sheet	Line 13 Depreciation
1420	Vehicles	Asset	Balance Sheet	Line 13 Depreciation
1500	Accumulated Depreciation	Asset (Contra)	Balance Sheet
2010	Credit Card	Liability	Balance Sheet
2200	Sales Tax Payable	Liability	Balance Sheet
2510	Loan Payable	Liability	Balance Sheet
2600	Due to Owner	Liability	Balance Sheet
3010	Owner's Capital	Equity	Balance Sheet
3200	Owner's Draw	Equity	Balance Sheet
3800	Retained Earnings	Equity	Balance Sheet
3900	Opening Balance Equity	Equity	Balance Sheet
4010	Sales Revenue	Income	Income Statement	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Service Revenue	Income	Income Statement	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4900	Returns and Refunds	Income	Income Statement	Line 2 Returns & Allowances
4990	Uncategorized Income	Income	Income Statement	Line 1 Gross Receipts
8010	Other Income	Income	Income Statement	Line 6 Other Income
5010	Cost of Goods Sold	Cost of Sales	Income Statement	Line 4 COGS
5040	Merchant and Payment Fees	Cost of Sales	Income Statement	Line 27a Other Expenses
6010	Advertising and Marketing	Expense	Income Statement	Line 8 Advertising
6020	Car and Truck Expenses	Expense	Income Statement	Line 9 Car & Truck
6030	Commissions and Fees	Expense	Income Statement	Line 10 Commissions
6040	Contract Labor	Expense	Income Statement	Line 11 Contract Labor
6050	Depreciation Expense	Expense	Income Statement	Line 13 Depreciation
6070	Insurance (other than health)	Expense	Income Statement	Line 15 Insurance
6090	Legal and Professional Services	Expense	Income Statement	Line 17 Legal & Professional
6100	Office Expense	Expense	Income Statement	Line 18 Office
6130	Rent - Business Property	Expense	Income Statement	Line 20b Rent Property
6140	Repairs and Maintenance	Expense	Income Statement	Line 21 Repairs
6150	Supplies	Expense	Income Statement	Line 22 Supplies
6160	Taxes and Licenses	Expense	Income Statement	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6170	Travel	Expense	Income Statement	Line 24a Travel
6180	Meals (deductible portion)	Expense	Income Statement	Line 24b Meals
6190	Utilities	Expense	Income Statement	Line 25 Utilities
6200	Wages and Salaries	Expense	Income Statement	Line 26 Wages
6300	Bank Service Charges	Expense	Income Statement	Line 27a Other Expenses
6330	Internet and Phone	Expense	Income Statement	Line 27a Other Expenses
6420	Software and Subscriptions	Expense	Income Statement	Line 27a Other Expenses
6500	Home Office	Expense	Income Statement	Line 30 Home Office
6900	Uncategorized Expense	Expense	Income Statement	Line 27a Other Expenses
6910	Owner Personal (non-deductible)	Expense	Income Statement	Not deductible
7010	Interest Expense	Expense	Income Statement	Line 16b Interest Other

Forty seven accounts sounds like a lot until you notice that most of them are expense categories the IRS already asks for by name on Schedule C. You are not inventing structure, you are matching a form you have to file anyway.

Delete anything you will not use this year. If you have no employees, drop Wages and Salaries. If you never sell physical products, drop Cost of Goods Sold and Sales Revenue and keep Service Revenue. Fewer accounts means less time spent deciding where a transaction goes.

How chart of accounts numbering works

Every account gets a number. The number is not decoration. The first digit tells you what kind of account it is, which means any bookkeeper, CPA, or accounting system can read your chart without you explaining it.

Range	Account type	Appears on
1000 to 1999	Assets	Balance sheet
2000 to 2999	Liabilities	Balance sheet
3000 to 3999	Equity	Balance sheet
4000 to 4999	Income	Income statement
5000 to 5999	Cost of sales	Income statement
6000 to 7999	Operating expenses	Income statement
8000 to 8999	Other income and expense	Income statement

Two rules make this system work long term.

Leave gaps. Number your accounts 6010, 6020, 6030 instead of 6001, 6002, 6003. When you need a new expense account in eighteen months, you drop it into 6015 and the order still makes sense. If you numbered sequentially, your new account lands at the bottom of the list, far away from the accounts it belongs next to, and it will annoy you every month for years.

Group before you split. Start with one Insurance account. Split it into General Liability and Vehicle only when you have a reason to look at those numbers separately. A chart of accounts should answer questions you actually ask.

Four digits is right for almost every small business. Five digits and multiple segments are for companies tracking by department or location, and if you needed that, you would already know.

Cash basis vs accrual: which accounts you actually need

This is the part every other sample chart of accounts skips, and it matters more than the numbering.

Under accrual accounting, you record revenue when you earn it and expenses when you incur them. That requires accounts to hold the gap between the work and the money: Accounts Receivable for invoices you have sent but not collected, Accounts Payable for bills you have received but not paid.

Under cash basis accounting, you record revenue when the money lands and expenses when the money leaves. There is no gap to hold. Those accounts have nothing to do.

Most sole proprietors, single member LLCs, freelancers, and small service businesses file on a cash basis. If your gross receipts are under the IRS threshold and you do not carry significant inventory, cash basis is usually the default and usually the right call. Here is what changes in your chart of accounts.

Account	Accrual basis	Cash basis
Accounts Receivable	Required	Delete. Revenue posts when payment clears.
Accounts Payable	Required	Delete. Expense posts when the payment goes out.
Accrued Expenses	Required	Delete.
Unearned or Deferred Revenue	Required	Delete. A deposit is income the day it lands.
Prepaid Expenses	Required	Usually delete. Annual insurance is expensed when paid.
Inventory Asset	Required	Keep if you hold stock. The IRS still expects inventory tracking for resellers.
Undeposited Funds	Optional	Keep. It holds cash received but not yet in the bank.
Accumulated Depreciation	Required	Keep. Depreciation is a tax concept, not a cash one.

That last pair trips people up. Cash basis does not mean you ignore fixed assets. If you buy a 4,000 dollar laptop, you still record the asset and still take depreciation or a Section 179 deduction. Cash basis governs the timing of income and expense recognition, not whether long lived assets exist.

The charts in this post are all built cash basis first. Where an accrual account is genuinely useful for a specific industry, like Retainage Receivable for contractors, I have included it and flagged why.

Sample charts of accounts by business type

The tables below show what changes for each industry. Add these accounts to the standard chart above, or skip the assembly and download the complete version for your business type at the bottom of the post.

Freelancer and consultant

Service businesses have no inventory and no cost of goods sold in the traditional sense. What they do have is a split between money that passes through to subcontractors and money they keep. Track that separately or your margin will look better than it is.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
4030	Consulting Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4040	Retainer Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4050	Project and Milestone Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5030	Subcontractor Costs	Cost of Sales	Line 11 Contract Labor
6060	Professional Liability Insurance	Expense	Line 15 Insurance
6310	Dues and Subscriptions	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6320	Education and Training	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6430	Website and Hosting	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6440	Coworking Space	Expense	Line 20b Rent Property
6450	Client Meals and Entertainment	Expense	Line 24b Meals
6910	Owner Health Insurance	Expense	Schedule 1, not Schedule C
6920	Self-Employed Retirement Contributions	Expense	Schedule 1, not Schedule C

Note the last two accounts. Owner health insurance and self employed retirement contributions are real deductions, but they go on Schedule 1 of your 1040, not on Schedule C. Keeping them in the chart of accounts means the numbers are ready at tax time, but do not let them reduce your Schedule C net profit or you will understate your self employment income.

Ecommerce seller

Ecommerce has the messiest bookkeeping of any small business category, and the reason is almost always the same: the money that hits your bank account is not your revenue. Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, and Stripe all net their fees out before they pay you.

If you post the payout as sales, you understate revenue and you never see your fees. Record gross sales, then record platform fees and merchant fees as separate costs. The bank deposit becomes the difference between them.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1100	Inventory Asset	Asset
1110	Inventory in Transit	Asset
1150	Marketplace Payouts Receivable	Asset
4015	Marketplace Sales - Amazon	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4016	Marketplace Sales - Etsy and eBay	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4017	Direct Website Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4018	Shipping Income Collected	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5015	Inventory Purchases	Cost of Sales	Line 36 Purchases
5020	Packaging and Shipping Supplies	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5025	Freight, Duty and Customs In	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5050	Marketplace and Platform Fees	Cost of Sales	Line 10 Commissions
5060	Fulfillment and Pick-Pack Fees	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
6015	Paid Ads and Sponsored Listings	Expense	Line 8 Advertising
6340	Postage and Shipping Out	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6350	Warehouse and Storage Fees	Expense	Line 20b Rent Property
6360	Chargebacks and Write-offs	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses

Marketplace Payouts Receivable is the exception to the cash basis rule above. It holds money the platform has confirmed but not yet transferred, usually a two week rolling balance. Without it, your revenue swings wildly depending on which day of the week your payout runs.

Restaurant and cafe

Restaurants live or die on prime cost, which is food plus beverage plus labor as a percentage of sales. Your chart of accounts should let you calculate that in about five seconds. That means splitting sales and cost of sales along the same lines.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1100	Inventory - Food	Asset
1110	Inventory - Beverage	Asset
1120	Inventory - Alcohol	Asset
1130	Smallwares and China	Asset
2300	Payroll Liabilities	Liability
2350	Tips Payable	Liability
4010	Food Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Beverage Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4030	Alcohol Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4040	Catering and Private Events	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4050	Delivery Platform Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5010	Food Cost	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5020	Beverage Cost	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5030	Alcohol Cost	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5050	Delivery Platform Commissions	Cost of Sales	Line 10 Commissions
6200	Wages - Kitchen	Expense	Line 26 Wages
6210	Wages - Front of House	Expense	Line 26 Wages
6220	Payroll Taxes	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6230	Kitchen Supplies and Smallwares	Expense	Line 22 Supplies
6240	Linen and Laundry	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6250	Waste Removal and Grease Trap	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6260	Repairs - Kitchen Equipment	Expense	Line 21 Repairs
6270	Health and Liquor Licenses	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6280	Menu Printing and Signage	Expense	Line 8 Advertising

Two details worth getting right. Delivery platform sales should be recorded gross with the commission as a separate cost, same logic as ecommerce. And tips collected on card are a liability until you pay them out, not revenue, unless you are keeping them.

Construction contractor

Contractors need to know profit by job, not just profit for the year. That is a job costing problem, not a chart of accounts problem, so resist the urge to create an account per project. Use your accounting system's project or class tracking for that and keep the chart of accounts organized by cost type.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1100	Materials Inventory	Asset
1150	Retainage Receivable	Asset
2150	Retainage Payable	Liability
2400	Customer Deposits	Liability
4010	Contract Revenue - Residential	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Contract Revenue - Commercial	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4030	Change Order Revenue	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4040	Service and Repair Revenue	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5010	Job Materials	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5020	Subcontractor Costs	Cost of Sales	Line 11 Contract Labor
5030	Direct Labor	Cost of Sales	Line 26 Wages
5045	Equipment Rental - Job Site	Cost of Sales	Line 20a Rent Equipment
5050	Permits and Inspection Fees	Cost of Sales	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
5060	Job Site Utilities and Dumpsters	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
6075	Workers Compensation Insurance	Expense	Line 15 Insurance
6080	General Liability and Bonding	Expense	Line 15 Insurance
6145	Tools and Small Equipment	Expense	Line 22 Supplies
6155	Safety Gear and Compliance	Expense	Line 22 Supplies

Retainage is the one place I would break cash basis discipline. If a general contractor is holding back ten percent of every invoice until the project closes, that money is real and you need to see it. Track Retainage Receivable and Retainage Payable even on cash basis books.

Real estate agent

Most agents get this wrong in the same way: they record their net commission check as income. The brokerage split is an expense, not a discount. Recording gross commission and the split separately gives you a true picture of production and makes your 1099 reconcile.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1150	Commissions Receivable	Asset
4010	Commission Income - Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Commission Income - Leasing	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4030	Referral Fee Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4040	Bonus and Incentive Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5010	Commission Splits to Brokerage	Cost of Sales	Line 10 Commissions
5020	Referral Fees Paid	Cost of Sales	Line 10 Commissions
6012	Listing Advertising and Signage	Expense	Line 8 Advertising
6014	Photography, Video and Staging	Expense	Line 8 Advertising
6016	Lead Generation and CRM	Expense	Line 8 Advertising
6035	MLS and Association Dues	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6045	Transaction Coordinator Fees	Expense	Line 11 Contract Labor
6065	Errors and Omissions Insurance	Expense	Line 15 Insurance
6320	Continuing Education and License Renewal	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6460	Client Gifts (25 dollar limit per client)	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6470	Open House and Client Events	Expense	Line 8 Advertising

Client gifts have a hard 25 dollar per recipient per year deduction limit, which is why they get their own account rather than sitting inside advertising. Track the full amount you spend and let your tax preparer apply the limit.

Trucking and delivery

Trucking is a cost per mile business. The accounts that matter are the ones that let you calculate it: fuel, driver pay, maintenance, tires, insurance, and permits. Everything else is noise.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1420	Trucks and Trailers	Asset	Line 13 Depreciation
1430	Onboard Equipment and ELD	Asset	Line 13 Depreciation
2520	Equipment Loan Payable	Liability
4010	Freight Revenue - Line Haul	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Fuel Surcharge Revenue	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4030	Accessorial and Detention Revenue	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5010	Fuel	Cost of Sales	Line 9 Car & Truck
5020	Driver and Owner-Operator Pay	Cost of Sales	Line 11 Contract Labor
5030	Tolls, Scales and Parking	Cost of Sales	Line 9 Car & Truck
5045	Truck Repairs and Maintenance	Cost of Sales	Line 21 Repairs
5055	Tires	Cost of Sales	Line 21 Repairs
6025	Truck and Trailer Lease Payments	Expense	Line 20a Rent Equipment
6072	Liability and Cargo Insurance	Expense	Line 15 Insurance
6165	IFTA, IRP and Permits	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6175	Driver Lodging and Per Diem	Expense	Line 24a Travel
6355	Dispatch and Load Board Fees	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6365	ELD and Telematics Subscriptions	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses

Fuel is coded as a cost of sales here rather than an operating expense. It is a direct cost of moving a load, and grouping it with driver pay and tolls gives you a usable gross margin on freight revenue. It still maps to the Car and Truck line on Schedule C.

Salon and personal services

Salons run two businesses at once: services with almost no cost of goods, and retail with real product cost. Mixing them makes both look wrong. Split revenue and cost of sales between service and retail from day one.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1100	Inventory - Retail Products	Asset
1110	Inventory - Backbar Supplies	Asset
2400	Gift Card Liability	Liability
4010	Service Revenue - Hair	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4020	Service Revenue - Nails, Skin and Other	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4030	Retail Product Sales	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4040	Booth Rental Income	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
4050	Tips Collected on Card	Income	Line 1 Gross Receipts
5010	Cost of Retail Products Sold	Cost of Sales	Line 4 COGS
5020	Backbar and Salon Supplies	Cost of Sales	Line 22 Supplies
5030	Contractor Stylist Payouts	Cost of Sales	Line 11 Contract Labor
5035	Tips Paid Out	Cost of Sales	Line 26 Wages
6135	Rent - Salon or Chair	Expense	Line 20b Rent Property
6165	Cosmetology Board and Licenses	Expense	Line 23 Taxes & Licenses
6245	Laundry, Towels and Linens	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses
6425	Booking Software and Card Reader Fees	Expense	Line 27a Other Expenses

Backbar supplies are the products you consume during a service, like color and developer. They are a cost of doing the service, not retail inventory. Keeping them separate is the difference between a real service margin and a guess.

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofits do not file Schedule C. They file Form 990, which requires expenses reported by function: program, management and general, and fundraising. Your chart of accounts has to support that split, and it needs to separate restricted from unrestricted funds.

Code	Account Name	Type	Schedule C Tax Line
1000	Cash - Operating	Asset	N/A (Form 990)
1015	Cash - Restricted Funds	Asset	N/A (Form 990)
1200	Grants Receivable	Asset	N/A (Form 990)
1250	Pledges Receivable	Asset	N/A (Form 990)
2400	Refundable Advances	Liability	N/A (Form 990)
3100	Net Assets Without Donor Restrictions	Equity	N/A (Form 990)
3110	Net Assets With Donor Restrictions	Equity	N/A (Form 990)
4010	Individual Contributions	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4020	Corporate and Foundation Grants	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4030	Government Grants	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4040	Membership Dues	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4050	Program Service Revenue	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4060	Fundraising Events Revenue	Income	N/A (Form 990)
4070	In-Kind Contributions	Income	N/A (Form 990)
6005	Program Services Expense	Expense	N/A (Form 990)
6006	Management and General Expense	Expense	N/A (Form 990)
6007	Fundraising Expense	Expense	N/A (Form 990)
6215	Payroll Taxes and Benefits	Expense	N/A (Form 990)
6400	Grants and Assistance to Others	Expense	N/A (Form 990)
6410	Audit and Form 990 Preparation	Expense	N/A (Form 990)

The three functional expense accounts at 6005, 6006, and 6007 are usually implemented as a dimension or class rather than three accounts, since every salary and rent dollar has to be allocated across all three. Check what your accounting system supports before you hard code them.

Mapping your chart of accounts to Schedule C

If you file Schedule C, your chart of accounts should be built backwards from the form. Every expense account should point at exactly one line. When it does, tax prep stops being a judgment exercise and becomes a copy exercise: read the balance, write it on the line.

Schedule C line	What goes there	Common mistake
Line 8 Advertising	Ads, marketing, design, sponsorships	Burying paid ads inside software subscriptions
Line 9 Car and Truck	Mileage or actual vehicle costs	Mixing personal commuting miles into business
Line 10 Commissions and Fees	Referral fees, brokerage splits, platform commissions	Netting commissions out of revenue
Line 11 Contract Labor	Payments to 1099 contractors	Coding contractors as wages, which triggers payroll questions
Line 13 Depreciation	Depreciation and Section 179	Expensing a 5,000 dollar asset in full without electing 179
Line 15 Insurance	Business insurance only	Including owner health insurance, which belongs on Schedule 1
Line 16b Interest	Business loan and credit card interest	Including principal payments, which are not an expense
Line 17 Legal and Professional	Attorney, CPA, bookkeeper	Splitting the CPA fee across three accounts
Line 18 Office Expense	General office costs	Overlapping with Supplies with no clear rule
Line 20a and 20b Rent	Equipment rent, then property rent	Putting coworking fees in Office Expense
Line 22 Supplies	Consumables used in the business	Using it as a catch all for everything unclear
Line 23 Taxes and Licenses	Business licenses, permits, payroll taxes	Including income tax payments, which are not deductible here
Line 24a and 24b Travel and Meals	Travel, then meals at the deductible percentage	Recording meals at 100 percent with no flag
Line 26 Wages	W2 employee pay only	Including owner draws, which are not wages for a sole proprietor
Line 30 Home Office	Simplified or actual method via Form 8829	Claiming rent twice, once here and once in Line 20b

The single most valuable habit here is deciding the mapping once, writing it down, and never relitigating it in March. If Office Expense means "things consumed at a desk" and Supplies means "things consumed doing the work," that rule is fine. What kills you is having no rule and making a different call every month.

If you want this mapping ready to go rather than building it yourself, the free chart of accounts template has all 41 Schedule C lines already assigned to accounts, and you can download it as CSV or Excel.

Six accounts almost everyone forgets

These are the accounts that separate books that reconcile from books that do not.

Undeposited Funds (1090). Holds payments you have received but not yet deposited. Without it, the day you take three checks and deposit them Friday, your books and your bank statement disagree and you spend an hour finding out why.

Owner's Draw (3200). Money you take out of the business. This is a reduction in equity, not an expense. If you code your draws as wages or as a business expense, your profit is understated, your tax return is wrong, and any lender reading your P&L gets a false picture.

Opening Balance Equity (3900). A temporary holding account for balances that exist when you start your books but have no clear origin. It should end up at zero once you have reclassified everything into the right equity accounts. If it still has a balance a year later, something was never finished.

Accumulated Depreciation (1500). A contra asset with a credit balance that reduces the book value of your equipment and vehicles. Without it, your balance sheet claims a six year old truck is still worth what you paid.

Owner Personal, non deductible (6910). Every business owner occasionally pays for something personal from the business card. Pretending it did not happen is not an option, and coding it as an expense is fraud adjacent. Give it an account, code it there, and let your accountant reclassify it to draws at year end.

Tax Savings (1030). Not an accounting requirement, just the account that saves people. A separate savings account where you move a percentage of every deposit for quarterly estimated taxes. Give it a line in your chart so it shows up on the balance sheet and stops looking like spendable cash.

Five mistakes that wreck a chart of accounts

Too many accounts. The urge to create an account for every distinct thing you spend money on ends with 200 accounts, half of them holding one transaction. Every extra account is a decision you have to make on every future transaction. Add an account only when its absence would hide something you need to know.

Renaming or renumbering mid year. Change an account name in June and your year over year comparison breaks. Make structural changes at the start of a fiscal year, and when you must change something mid year, change the name and keep the number.

Using accounts as customers, projects, or vendors. Do not create Revenue - Acme Corp. Do not create Materials - Johnson Job. That is what customer, class, and project tracking is for. Accounts describe the type of money. Everything else is a dimension.

Mixing personal and business. This is not really a chart of accounts problem, but it shows up here first. A single account for a mixed use card means every reconciliation starts with sorting. Separate cards, separate books, and account 6910 for the leakage.

No cost of sales layer. Lumping direct costs in with rent and software means you never see gross margin. If you resell products, subcontract work, or pay platform commissions, those belong in the 5000s. Then your income statement tells you something instead of just totalling up.

How to set up your chart of accounts in an hour

Pick your starting chart. Use the standard chart above or the download for your industry. Do not build from scratch. There is no prize for originality here.
Delete aggressively. Go line by line and remove any account you will not use in the next twelve months. Aim to end with 30 to 45 accounts.
Rename to your language. If you say "shoots" and not "projects," rename the account. You are the person who has to categorize transactions, so use words that make the choice obvious.
Confirm the Schedule C mapping. Every expense account should point at one line. Anything that does not map cleanly goes to Other Expenses, and if Other Expenses gets large, split it next year.
Import it. Almost every accounting system takes a CSV with code, name, and type. Import before you record a single transaction. Reclassifying six months of history is a bad afternoon.
Write down your rules. Three or four sentences in a note: what goes in Supplies, what goes in Office, what counts as a draw. Future you will not remember.
Review it once a year. Look for accounts with no activity and accounts with too much. Merge, split, or delete, then leave it alone for another year.

Download the templates

All nine charts of accounts are available as an Excel workbook with one tab per business type, and as individual CSV files ready to import.

Excel workbook, nine tabs, filters and totals included
CSV files, one per business type, plain import format
Every account pre mapped to its IRS Schedule C line

Download the chart of accounts template

Skip the setup entirely

Building a chart of accounts is the easy part. Keeping it populated is the part that takes your evenings.

That is what we built Bookkipa for. You upload your bank statements or connect your account, and Bookkipa turns the transactions into cash basis financial statements: a real income statement, a real balance sheet, real double entry underneath. The chart of accounts on this page is already configured in every new account, Schedule C lines and all, so your categories are correct before you record a single transaction.

If you have been doing this in a spreadsheet, the difference is that you stop maintaining a list and start reading a report. Try Bookkipa free.

Frequently asked questions

How many accounts should a small business have? Between 30 and 50 for most businesses filing Schedule C. Under 20 and you are probably lumping things together in ways that hide problems. Over 80 and you are spending time on categorization that the numbers do not repay. The standard chart on this page has 47.

Can I change my chart of accounts mid year? You can add accounts any time, and you should when a real need appears. Renaming or merging accounts mid year breaks your comparatives, so save structural changes for the start of a fiscal year unless something is actively wrong.

Does a sole proprietor need a chart of accounts? Yes, though it can be small. If you file Schedule C, you are already reporting income and expenses in defined categories. A chart of accounts is just those categories written down before the year ends instead of reconstructed after it.

What is the difference between a chart of accounts and a general ledger? The chart of accounts is the list of categories. The general ledger is the record of every transaction posted to them. The chart is the folder labels, the ledger is what is inside the folders.

Do I need account numbers? Not strictly. Some small business software works fine without them. But numbers give you a stable sort order, they survive renaming, and they make it obvious when an account is filed in the wrong category. I would use them.

Is there a standard chart of accounts in the US? No. Unlike some countries with legally prescribed charts, US businesses design their own. What acts as a de facto standard for small businesses is the Schedule C line structure, which is why the charts on this page are built around it.

How do I import a chart of accounts into QuickBooks or Xero? Both accept a CSV with columns for account number, name, and type. The type values have to match their internal list exactly, so map Cost of Sales to their equivalent before importing. Import into a fresh file or you will end up with duplicates alongside their default accounts.

What chart of accounts should an LLC use? It depends on how the LLC is taxed, not on the LLC itself. A single member LLC taxed as a sole proprietor files Schedule C, so use the standard chart on this page. An LLC taxed as an S corporation needs additional equity accounts, including Shareholder Distributions and Officer Compensation, and owner draws work differently.

Should my chart of accounts match my tax return? As closely as possible for expenses. Your operating reports may need more detail than the return, and that is fine, as long as every account rolls up cleanly to one tax line. What you want to avoid is an account that could plausibly go to two different lines.

This article is for general information and is not tax advice. Schedule C line numbers and deduction rules change. Confirm your specific situation with a CPA or enrolled agent.

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