Chart of accounts

Overview

Zenskar provides a structured chart of accounts system that organizes financial data into five main categories. This hierarchical structure ensures consistent financial reporting and seamless integration with your accounting workflows.

Account categories

graph LR
    %% Left side - Assets accounts
    AR[Accounts Receivable] --- Assets
    CustAsset[Customers] --- AR
    PGAsset[Payment Gateways] --- AR
    Cash[Cash] --- Assets
    TDS[TDS Receivable] --- Assets
    UR[Unbilled Revenue] --- Assets
    
    %% Left side - Expenses accounts
    GST[GST] --- Expenses
    PGF[Payment Gateway Fees] --- Expenses
    SRA[Sales Returns and Allowances] --- Expenses
    TW[Tax Withheld] --- Expenses
    
    %% Left categories to center
    Assets[ASSETS] --- COA
    Expenses[EXPENSES] --- COA
    
    %% Center node
    COA[Chart of<br/>Accounts]
    
    %% Right categories from center
    COA --- Liabilities[LIABILITIES]
    COA --- Equity[EQUITY]
    COA --- Income[INCOME]
    
    %% Right side - Liabilities accounts
    Liabilities --- AP[Accounts Payable]
    Liabilities --- CAR[Contra Accounts Receivable]
    CAR --- CustLiab[Customers]
    CAR --- PGLiab[Payment Gateways]
    Liabilities --- CW[Customer Wallet]
    Liabilities --- DR[Deferred Revenue]
    Liabilities --- ST[Sales Tax]
    
    %% Right side - Equity accounts
    Equity --- RE[Retained Earnings]
    
    %% Right side - Income accounts
    Income --- SSR[Sales and Services Revenue]
    Income --- Custom[Custom Accounts]
    
    Custom --- Note[Custom accounts<br/>fully functional]
    
    classDef rootClass fill:#37474f,stroke:#263238,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
    classDef categoryClass fill:#e0e0e0,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px,font-weight:bold
    classDef accountClass fill:#f9f9f9,stroke:#999,stroke-width:1px
    classDef subAccountClass fill:#f5f5f5,stroke:#bbb,stroke-width:1px,stroke-dasharray: 2 2
    classDef incomeCategory fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#2e7d32,stroke-width:3px
    classDef customClass fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#f57c00,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
    classDef noteClass fill:#fffde7,stroke:#f57f17,stroke-width:1px,stroke-dasharray: 3 3
    
    class COA rootClass
    class Assets,Liabilities,Equity,Expenses categoryClass
    class Income incomeCategory
    class AR,Cash,TDS,UR,AP,CAR,CW,DR,ST,RE,SSR,GST,PGF,SRA,TW accountClass
    class CustAsset,PGAsset,CustLiab,PGLiab subAccountClass
    class Custom customClass
    class Note noteClass

The chart of accounts in Zenskar is organized into five primary categories. Default Zenskar accounts work according to industry-standard conventions across all categories.

Current capabilities

Implementation rationale

Custom account functionality was initially developed for Income accounts to address immediate client needs for multiple revenue streams. This focused approach allows businesses to differentiate revenue types while the broader custom rules engine is being developed for other account categories.

User-defined accounts

User-defined accounts are fully functional only in the Income category, where they integrate seamlessly with revenue recognition workflows. While the interface allows creating accounts in other categories, automated rule functionality for these accounts is under development. Income accounts were prioritized to support clients needing multiple revenue accounts for different revenue streams.

Account management constraints

Accounts cannot be renamed or deleted once created to maintain audit trail integrity and ensure consistent financial reporting. This design preserves the historical accuracy of all transactions and prevents accidental data loss or reporting inconsistencies.

Creating custom income accounts

To create a custom income account:

1. Click Accounting in the side panel.
2. On the Accounting page, click the Chart of Accounts link at the bottom of the page.
3. On the Chart of Accounts page, click the + ACCOUNT button to create a new custom account by defining its name and properties.
4. Once you save the configuration, the account becomes available system-wide for use in revenue rules and other income-related features.

Using custom income accounts

Custom income accounts integrate directly with revenue recognition through the revenue rule configuration:

When you select a custom income account in a revenue rule, all POBs generated from that rule will post their revenue to the selected account. This provides complete control over revenue categorization and reporting.

Zenskar-defined accounts

Zenskar provides pre-defined accounts across all categories that function according to industry-standard accounting conventions. These accounts handle standard financial workflows automatically, ensuring that transactions are properly categorized without manual configuration.

Default accounts available

When no custom accounts are created, revenue recognition and all other financial processes work seamlessly with the default account structure. The system automatically routes transactions to appropriate accounts based on industry-standard logic, requiring no manual intervention for typical use cases.

Revenue rule integration

The Revenue Rule Library feature leverages the account hierarchy to define performance obligation bundles (POBs) and enable sophisticated revenue recognition workflows.

1. Click Accounting in the side panel.
2. On the Accounting page, click Revenue Rule Library link located at the bottom of the page.
3. On the Revenue Rule Library page, click CREATE NEW REVENUE RULE button.

Rule configuration components

Revenue account selection

When creating a revenue rule, the Revenue Account dropdown displays all available Income accounts, including both Zenskar-defined accounts and any custom income accounts you have created. This selection determines where revenue from the POB will be recorded. The revenue rule defines how products are bundled into a performance obligation and which account tracks the associated revenue.

Note on double-entry bookkeeping

While every transaction must affect at least two accounts to maintain balanced books, revenue rules only require you to specify the Income account. Zenskar automatically determines the corresponding debit account based on the transaction context:

The system handles these standard accounting patterns automatically, allowing you to focus on categorizing revenue into the appropriate Income accounts for your business needs.

Current features and upcoming enhancements

Available functionality

Upcoming features

Custom rules functionality is being developed to enable full utilization of user-defined accounts across all categories. Once complete, you will be able to create automated rules that route transactions to custom accounts in Assets, Liabilities, Equity, and Expenses categories. Additional enhancements include multi-level account hierarchies and industry-specific templates for faster setup.

Best practices

Working with current capabilities

Preparing for expanded capabilities

Since custom accounts in non-Income categories will become functional with upcoming custom rules features, consider documenting your requirements now. Identify specific transaction routing needs that will benefit from custom accounts and establish naming conventions that will scale across all account categories. While you can create these accounts today in preparation, they will become operational once the automated rules engine is extended to support them.

Integration considerations

System dependencies

Data flow

Revenue flows through the account hierarchy from initial transaction to final reporting. Revenue rules define performance obligation bundles, and products mapped within these rules generate transactions that are recorded in the specified income accounts, which then feed into financial reports and analytics dashboards.

Related documentation

For more information on working with accounts and revenue recognition in Zenskar, refer to the following resources: