Chart of Accounts

• The Chart of Accounts displays the accounts, ledgers, and transactions representing the business activities performed in Fishbowl Drive.
• Click any account to see the transactions contributing to the account balance.
• Fishbowl Drive can also export accounting entries to QuickBooks Online or to Xero.

Main section

Right from the start, the Chart of Accounts module is packed with ledger accounts. At the top of the Chart of Accounts module is the Search Ledgers textbox that lets you narrow down the ledgers that appear on the main page by entering text into it. This changes the results on the page in real time.

To the right of that textbox is the Date Range field. Click it to open a calendar that lets you choose any date range you like. For example, you can select a start and end date on the calendar, or you can select one of these options on the right:

• Today
• Yesterday
• This Week
• Last Week
• Last 7 Days
• This Month
• Last Month

This Month is the default that will appear each time you go to this module. Interestingly, this date range doesn’t change anything on the main page. It only affects the transaction results that appear on the individual ledger account pages. This will make more sense as we explain what is on the main page and the other pages within this module.

The following headers are on the main page:

• Name - The name for an account, which describes its function.
• Type - The type of account, such as an Asset or Expense. All of the types are listed in the How to create a ledger account section below.
• Balance - The amount of money owed to you or by you, based on all orders.

You will notice that the Balance for each ledger account doesn’t change when you adjust the Date Range. That’s because it always reflects every sales order and purchase order in your system, and it isn’t limited by a date range. Only when you click on one of these ledgers will you find that the transactions within them change based on the date range selected.

Action bar on the main page

The action bar on the main page of the Chart of Accounts module is quite simple. It only contains one button:

• ADD NEW - Open the Create Account wizard to create a new ledger account.

Just like the Pricing Rules module, the Chart of Accounts module doesn’t give you the option to delete a ledger account on its main page. You will have to click on a ledger account to find a button in the action bar that allows you to delete it. That will probably be a rare occurrence, but it’s nice to have the option to do that, just in case.

How to create a ledger account

As noted above, when you click the ADD NEW button in the action bar, it will bring up the Create Account wizard. This wizard is quite simple, containing just three fields that are all required, as denoted by an asterisk:

• Number* - A textbox to enter the account number that matches the one in your accounting software.
• Name* - A textbox to enter a descriptive name for the account. You will probably want this to match the one in your accounting software, but you can also name it something else if you prefer. The character limit is 255.
• Account Type* - A dropdown menu to select an account type, which is in line with its purpose. There are 14 options to choose from:
  • Accounts Payable - Short-term bills that need to be paid to vendors, shippers, service providers, etc. These are expenses to your business.
  • Accounts Receivable - Payments that are expected to be received from customers and others in the short term in exchange for goods and/or services provided to them. These are assets to your business.
  • Bank - A financial institution that accepts deposits, holds your money, pays interest, and disburses funds upon your request.
  • Credit Card - A payment method that relies on credit rather than debit transactions. Unlike a bank account, a credit card temporarily borrows funds from a financial institution to spend on purchases. It charges interest on those funds if they are not repaid by the end of a billing cycle.
  • Equity - The value attributable to the owners of an asset, whether a business, vehicle, real estate property, intellectual property, or many other types.
  • Asset - Property, whether material or intellectual, that is owned by your business. This can include hardware, software, vehicles, inventory, and more.
  • Other Current Asset - Property that is currently owned by your business, but it may not fall into normal categories. This can include copyrights, warranties, insurance policies, etc.
  • Fixed Asset - Long-term property that is intended to be used for more than a year and is often large and difficult to move. This can include heavy-duty equipment, manufacturing machines, buildings, and other real estate.
  • Other Current Liability - Short-term debts that must be paid within the next 12 months and don’t fall under the category of most major liabilities. These can be related to education, onboarding, moving, or other expenses that are out of the norm of what your business usually pays for.
  • Long Term Liability - Long-term debts that are to be paid off in more than 12 months. This can include mortgages, rental agreements, commercial loans, and other debts that you don’t have enough money to pay off immediately.
  • Income - Money that is being paid to your business for a product and/or service.
  • Expense - Money that is being paid by your business for a product and/or service.
  • Cost of Goods Sold - The amount of money your business pays to obtain and hold a product before it is sold.
  • Holding - A holding account is a bank account or investment portfolio you save and accumulate funds in for a specific purpose. It may be to pay for hardware upgrades, new locations, seasonal personnel, or a host of other reasons related to your business.

Once you have entered all of the information into the three fields, click the blue SAVE button to create the ledger account and add it to the list on the main page.

Ledger accounts

After you create a ledger account, you can see all of the transactions that fall into it by clicking its line on the main page. Doing this will shrink the list of ledger accounts to a small window on the left, and the larger section on the right is where you can see all of the transactions in the one you clicked.

The information on this page is separated into the following column headers:

• Date - The month, day, and year (MM/DD/YYYY) that a transaction was created.
• Type / Ref. - The posting reference, which ensures transactions are posted to the appropriate accounts in the general ledger of your accounting software.
• Payee / Account - The party to pay or be paid, and the account that a transaction is posted to in the general ledger, respectively. This may be different than the name you created for this account in the Chart of Accounts module.
• Memo - This changes depending on the type of ledger account you’re looking at. For many accounts, this displays the order number associated with a transaction. It can be a sales order number or purchase order number. For other accounts, it contains a code explaining what action was taken, such as voiding a transaction, undoing an action, or removing an item for scrap.
• Amount - The amount of money either debited or credited to this ledger account in a transaction.
• Balance - The total amount of money either owed or paid in the account after each transaction is recorded.

Keep in mind that the date range may limit the number of transactions that appear in the ledger account when you click on it. So don’t worry if you find no transactions or you don’t find a particular one you’re looking for at first. Simply check the date range at the top of the module and make sure it covers a wide enough time period to include it.

When you click on a transaction, its bill/receipt will pop up above the module and show basically the same information. While the column headers show nearly identical information as the page under the popup, several of them are broken up into separate column headers:

• Date - The same as above.
• Type - The same as the Type / Ref column above.
• Ref. No - The order number associated with the transaction. This column is used instead of the Memo one above.
• Name - The Payee above is referred to as Name here.
• Memo - Instead of showing the order number, this column shows the item(s) contained in the order. For accounts that include an action in this column, it includes more information about the affected item(s), such as description and quantity.
• Account - The same as the account part of the Payee / Account column above.
• Debit - The amount of money being added to an account, which must be balanced by a corresponding credit to a different account.
• Credit - The amount of money being taken out of an account, which matches the amount debited to a different account. Notice that the Amount column is separated into two columns to show exactly what is happening in a transaction.

You can’t change any of the information in the transactions in this module. You can only view the information.

Action bar in an individual ledger account

The action bar in an individual ledger account differs from the action bar on the main page of the Chart of Accounts module. It has two options:

• More - Open a dropdown menu with a single option. Click the More button and then select Delete Account to delete the ledger account you have clicked on and opened. A popup will appear, and you will need to click the blue CONFIRM button to complete the deletion.
• X - Close the ledger account and return to the main page of the Chart of Accounts module.