Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is the backbone of your books. It is the structured list of every account that transactions can post against, organized so your financial statements come together correctly. This guide explains account types, numbering, customization, and importing.

A well-designed chart makes reporting effortless; a sloppy one makes every statement a chore. It is worth investing a little time here.

Account types

Every account in Caydem belongs to one of five fundamental types. These types determine how an account behaves and where it lands on your financial statements.

• Assets — what the company owns or is owed. Cash, accounts receivable, equipment, prepaid expenses. Assets carry a normal debit balance.
• Liabilities — what the company owes. Accounts payable, accrued expenses, loans, notes payable. Liabilities carry a normal credit balance.
• Equity — the owners’ residual interest. Contributed capital, retained earnings, distributions. Equity carries a normal credit balance.
• Revenue — income earned from operations. Sales, service income, production revenue. Revenue carries a normal credit balance.
• Expenses — the costs of operating. Lease operating expense, salaries, depreciation, interest. Expenses carry a normal debit balance.

Assets, liabilities, and equity flow to the balance sheet. Revenue and expenses flow to the income statement. This mapping is automatic — you assign the type, Caydem handles the placement.

Account numbering

Accounts are organized by an account number. A consistent numbering scheme groups related accounts together and makes the chart easy to scan. A common convention reserves a leading digit for each type:

Range	Type	Example accounts
1000–1999	Assets	1000 Cash, 1200 Accounts Receivable
2000–2999	Liabilities	2000 Accounts Payable, 2400 Notes Payable
3000–3999	Equity	3000 Owner’s Capital, 3900 Retained Earnings
4000–4999	Revenue	4000 Production Revenue, 4100 Royalty Income
5000–6999	Expenses	5000 Lease Operating Expense, 6000 G&A

Leaving gaps between numbers (for example, 1000, 1010, 1020) gives you room to insert related accounts later without renumbering everything.

Customizing the chart

You are never locked into a template. The chart of accounts is fully editable at any time:

• Add accounts — create a new account, assign its type and number, and it becomes available for posting immediately.
• Rename accounts — update a name without affecting the history posted to it.
• Reorganize — adjust numbering to regroup accounts as your operation evolves.
• Archive accounts — when an account is no longer used, archive it rather than deleting it. Archiving preserves the historical entries that reference the account while removing it from new-entry pickers.

Prefer archiving over deletion. Accounts with posted history carry an audit trail; hard-deleting them would orphan transactions and break the integrity of past periods. Caydem keeps archived accounts out of your way while keeping the record intact.

Importing an existing chart

If you already maintain a chart of accounts elsewhere, you can bring it into Caydem rather than rebuilding it by hand. During Company Setup — or afterward — choose to import a chart.

A typical import provides, per account:

• Account number — your existing identifier.
• Account name — the descriptive name.
• Account type — one of asset, liability, equity, revenue, or expense.
• Parent / grouping (optional) — to preserve hierarchy.

Caydem validates the import: numbers must be unique, and every account must map to a valid type. Once imported, your familiar account numbers and names carry over unchanged, so reports look the way you expect from day one.

Next steps

With a chart in place, you are ready to record activity. Continue to Journals & Entries to learn the double-entry mechanics, or jump to Period Close to set your monthly rhythm.