Chart of Accounts

Overview

The Chart of Accounts is the complete list of ledger accounts for a business, organized in a hierarchical tree structure. It serves as the foundation for all financial reporting and is automatically created when a business is onboarded.

Hierarchy Structure

Accounts are organized in a parent-child hierarchy:

Assets (Level 0)
├── Current Assets (Level 1)
│   ├── Cash (Level 2)
│   │   ├── Petty Cash (Level 3)
│   │   └── Business Current Account (Level 3)
│   └── Accounts Receivable (Level 2)
└── Non-Current Assets (Level 1)
    └── Fixed Assets (Level 2)
        ├── Equipment (Level 3)
        └── Furniture (Level 3)

Hierarchy Fields

Field	Description
`hierarchy_level`	Depth in the tree (0 = root account)
`parent_account_code`	Code of parent account (null for roots)
`has_children`	Boolean indicating sub-accounts exist
`sub_accounts`	Array of nested child accounts

Account Organization

The standard chart of accounts follows this top-level structure:

Balance Sheet Accounts

Assets - What the business ownsLiabilities - What the business owesEquity - Owner’s stake

Income Statement Accounts

Revenue - Income earnedExpenses - Costs incurred

Retrieving the Chart of Accounts

Two endpoints are available:

Flat List (Paginated)

Use List Chart of Accounts for:

Filtering by account type
Searching by name or code
Paginated results
Period-specific balances

GET /v1/platform/businesses/{business_id}/general-ledger/chart-of-accounts/

Hierarchical Tree

Use Get Chart of Accounts Hierarchy for:

Complete tree structure
Nested sub-accounts
Visual hierarchy representation
Account counts

GET /v1/platform/businesses/{business_id}/general-ledger/chart-of-accounts/hierarchy/

Response Structure

Hierarchy Response

The hierarchy endpoint returns accounts as a nested tree:

{
  "hierarchy": [
    {
      "id": "...",
      "code": "1000",
      "name": "Assets",
      "account_type": "asset",
      "hierarchy_level": 0,
      "has_children": true,
      "current_balance": 50000000,
      "current_balance_formatted": "£500,000.00",
      "sub_accounts": [
        {
          "id": "...",
          "code": "1100",
          "name": "Current Assets",
          "account_type": "asset",
          "hierarchy_level": 1,
          "has_children": true,
          "current_balance": 35000000,
          "sub_accounts": [
            {
              "id": "...",
              "code": "1101",
              "name": "Business Current Account",
              "hierarchy_level": 2,
              "has_children": false,
              "current_balance": 1250050,
              "sub_accounts": []
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "...",
      "code": "2000",
      "name": "Liabilities",
      "account_type": "liability",
      "hierarchy_level": 0,
      "sub_accounts": [...]
    }
  ],
  "total_accounts": 45
}

Balance Calculations

Account balances follow double-entry bookkeeping rules:

Debit Accounts
Credit Accounts

Assets & Expenses increase with debits

Balance = Debits - Credits

Positive balance = Normal (what you own/spent)

Liabilities, Equity & Revenue increase with credits

Balance = Credits - Debits

Positive balance = Normal (what you owe/earned)

Parent Account Balances

Parent accounts aggregate balances from all descendants:

Assets (£500,000)
├── Current Assets (£350,000)
│   ├── Cash (£125,000)
│   └── Receivables (£225,000)
└── Fixed Assets (£150,000)

Common Use Cases

Display account tree in UI

Use the hierarchy endpoint to fetch the complete tree, then render recursively:

function renderAccount(account, depth = 0) {
  const indent = '  '.repeat(depth);
  console.log(`${indent}${account.code} - ${account.name}: ${account.current_balance_formatted}`);
  account.sub_accounts?.forEach(child => renderAccount(child, depth + 1));
}

response.hierarchy.forEach(root => renderAccount(root));

Filter accounts by type

Use the list endpoint with account_type parameter:

GET /v1/.../chart-of-accounts/?account_type=expense

Get period-specific balances

Use the list endpoint with period filters:

GET /v1/.../chart-of-accounts/?period_year=2024&period_month=11

Managing Businesses

Importing Business Activity

Financial Reports

Overview

Hierarchy Structure

Hierarchy Fields

Account Organization

Balance Sheet Accounts

Income Statement Accounts

Retrieving the Chart of Accounts

Flat List (Paginated)

Hierarchical Tree

Response Structure

Hierarchy Response

Balance Calculations

Parent Account Balances

Common Use Cases

​Overview

​Hierarchy Structure

​Hierarchy Fields

​Account Organization

Balance Sheet Accounts

Income Statement Accounts

​Retrieving the Chart of Accounts

​Flat List (Paginated)

​Hierarchical Tree

​Response Structure

​Hierarchy Response

​Balance Calculations

​Parent Account Balances

​Common Use Cases

Overview

Hierarchy Structure

Hierarchy Fields

Account Organization

Retrieving the Chart of Accounts

Flat List (Paginated)

Hierarchical Tree

Response Structure

Hierarchy Response

Balance Calculations

Parent Account Balances

Common Use Cases