General Ledger Account Types Explained

General ledger accounts within FINSYNC fall within these categories:

Note: Tables can't be imported directly

Accounts Receivable

Assets - Balance Sheet Accounts

Accounts Receivable - Only appears if your reports are set to "accrual." Accounts receivable is money owed to you. When you have earned money from your customers, but they have not paid you yet, you have a balance in accounts receivable.

Cash - Dollars on hand. Money in your various bank accounts and petty cash. When an invoice is paid on FINSYNC, the receivable is reduced by the amount paid and cash is increased by the same amount.

Fixed Asset - Real estate and equipment that is owned by the business and not purchased with the immediate intention of reselling for profit.

Intangible - Intellectual property and assets such as goodwill that have a value to the company for some period of time but are not physical items.  These items are typically amortized over some determined length of time that they will have a value.

Inventory - Items that are purchased with the goal of reselling.

Other Asset - Long-term assets that are not classified elsewhere on the balance sheet.

Other Current Assets - Assets that are not categorized elsewhere on the balance sheet that are convertible within a business cycle (typically a one year cycle).

Prepaid Expense - When you pay for a service such as insurance, software or something else that spans a multi-month period of time, you have prepaid part of it.

Liabilities - Balance Sheet Accounts

Accounts Payable - What you owe.  Bills you have received by not paid yet.

Credit Card - What you owe on your various credit cards.

Current Liabilities - Money that you owe that is due in the near term. A note, for example.

Loan - Money is given to you that must be paid back over a longer period of time.

Long Term Liabilities - Money that you owe that is due in more than one year.

Other Current Liability - This is a subset of current liabilities and is money that you owe that is not categorized as a bill to a vendor (accounts payable) or a debt on a credit card.

Unearned Income - If a customer pays you for a service that you have not delivered yet, you have unearned income.

Equity - Balance Sheet Accounts

Equity - Part of the company owned by shareholders.

Fair Value Adjustment - When an asset's value increases or decreases not do to depreciation, the change in the value of the asset is recorded as a fair value adjustment.  Land that increases in value over time is an example of an asset that might need a fair value adjustment.

Retained Earnings - Net income or loss from prior years of business is categorized as retained earnings.  These are the earnings that have been left in the business assets from prior years.

Income - Income Statement Accounts

Income - Various accounts for categorizing how your company makes money

Other Income - Income earned thru activity that is not part of the normal business activity such as the sale of a copier.

Expenses - Income Statement Accounts

Amortization - The loss of value over time of an asset such as a patent.

Cost of Goods Sold - The direct costs associated with creating sellable items or services.

Depreciation - The loss of value over time of a fixed asset such as a computer.  The lives of most assets are pre-determined by rules established by the IRS.

Expense - Various accounts for categorizing expenses in a way that helps the owner/manager and other interested parties such as banks understand the costs of running a business or creating a product.

Other Expense - An expense that is not directly related to running a business or creating a product.