Docs

The five account types, the code convention, the editor surface, and the deactivate-not-delete rule that preserves your historical entries.

Chart of accounts

Your Chart of Accounts (CoA) is the list of accounts you post journal entries against. The platform ships a starter CoA on install; you edit it from there.

The five account types

Every account belongs to exactly one type. The platform validates the type case-sensitively against these five exact strings:

  • Asset — what the business owns. AR, Cash, Inventory.
  • Liability — what the business owes. AP, accrued expenses.
  • Equity — owners' stake. Retained earnings, contributed capital.
  • Revenue — income from operations.
  • Expense — costs of operations. COGS, payroll, rent.

Wrong-case strings (asset, LIABILITY) are rejected by the create / patch handler — the platform won't paper over a typo.

Account codes

Each account has a short stable identifier called a code (e.g., 1000 Cash, 1100 AR, 4000 Revenue). Codes are:

  • Tenant-scoped — every tenant picks its own numbering.
  • Unique within the tenant — the platform rejects a second account using the same code.
  • Stable — code is the addressing key journal entries use; rename via PATCH instead of delete + recreate so your existing entries stay reachable.

The platform doesn't enforce a numbering scheme — you can use 1000/2000/3000/4000/5000 blocks, you can use your prior bookkeeping codes, or any convention your accountant prefers.

The editor surface

The CoA editor lives at Settings → Yoke Ledger → Chart of accounts in the admin shell. From there you can:

  • Create an account inline (code + name + type).
  • PATCH an account to rename it or recategorize.
  • Deactivate an account so it disappears from the New Entry picker without disturbing historical entries.

There is no destructive delete. Deactivating an account keeps every historical entry pointing at the same code — posted entries still reconcile, the Trial Balance still balances, and a reactivation restores the account in one click.

What's not in the CoA today

  • Sub-accounts and account hierarchies (parent/child).
  • Custom account-type validators beyond the five standard types.
  • Per-tenant default-CoA templates that an org can apply when provisioning a new tenant.

See also