There are many different types of accounting software that businesses can use. One popular title is Peachtree. In this post, we will discuss the general ledge default settings and also how to add accounts.
General Ledger Default Settings
The General Ledger records all financial information for your company. Every transaction that occurs is eventually posted to the set of accounts that make up the General Ledger. This set of accounts is called the Chart of Accounts. Here we will look at setting the defaults for the General Ledger
When you want to set the defaults for the General Ledger, you select “Maintain| Default Information| General Ledger…” from the Menu Bar to bring up the “General Ledger Defaults” window. There isn’t much to set in this window. You simply select the rounding account used by Peachtree to store rounding differences on financial statements. This account can be either a balance sheet account, or an income statement account. Typically, the “Retained Earnings” account is used. When you are done selecting a rounding account, click “OK” to set it.
When you go to create new accounts in the Chart of Accounts, you will need to fill in the Account ID that you want to give to the account, the description of the account, and then set the account type. Let’s look at the information that we must provide Peachtree in order to add accounts to the chart of accounts.
The first thing that you must provide Peachtree with is an account number. Peachtree allows the use of both alphabetic and numeric characters in its account numbers. You should set up an account numbering system that is systematic and coherent. It should be easy for others to use and understand. In a traditional General Ledger, individual accounts are numbered and placed into numeric ranges similar to the following table. This can be a helpful guide in establishing account numbers.
Check out this video on the general ledger settings in Peachtree in order to get a better idea of the process:
Adding Accounts
If you selected to create your chart of accounts using one of the business types listed in the “New Company Setup Wizard,” then you likely have a full chart of accounts which will give you all of the accounts necessary to run a business. However, you may want to add, delete, or rename specific accounts in the default chart of accounts. You will also need to enter “opening balances” for your accounts, as well. This can be done using the “Maintain Chart of Accounts” window. You can open this window by selecting “Maintain| Chart of Accounts…” from the Menu Bar.
In the “Maintain Chart of Accounts” window you add, rename, and delete accounts. You also use it to enter opening balances for accounts and prepare account budgets.
Notice the toolbar at the top of the window. It contains buttons that allow you to add, edit, and remove accounts from your company file’s chart of accounts. Use the “Close,” “New,” “Save,” “Delete,” and “Change ID,” buttons to make modifications to the listed accounts. Below that toolbar, you can use the “Account ID” drop-down to identify the account by ID. The account ID can be up to fifteen characters in length and alphabetic and/or numeric. Starting in Peachtree 2004, you can use the “Change ID” button to change account IDs. The “Description” field shows a description for the account. You can also use the “Inactive” check box to make any active account ID inactive.
Notice all of the accounts that appear when you click the “Account ID:” drop-down. Double-click on any ID to select it from the list. If you want a listing of all of the accounts created in your chart of accounts, select “Reports & Forms (“Reports” in 2003:2008)| General Ledger…” from the Menu Bar. This will launch the “Select a Report or Form” window. Here you can select the “Chart of Accounts” in the Report List, and click the “Display” button (“Preview” in 2003:2008) to preview the list. Then if you want to print it, just click the “Print” button in the report’s preview window. Starting in Peachtree 2008, you can also access a listing of accounts by simply clicking the “List” button in the window’s toolbar to open up a separate account list in a new window.
Check out this video on adding accounts in Peachtree in order to get a better idea of the process:
