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Help centre · Finance

Chart of accounts and opening balances

The standard account list, how to add, change or deactivate accounts, which accounts take payments, and how to bring in balances from your old system.

Who can do this: Viewing needs the View accounts permission (Tenant admin, Store manager and Accountant roles by default). Making changes needs Manage accounts (Tenant admin by default).

What you start with

A chart of accounts is the list of headings your money is recorded under. Sevo creates a standard retail chart for you. Codes follow common practice: 1000s assets (what you own), 2000s liabilities (what you owe), 3000s equity (the owner's stake), 4000s revenue, 5000s cost of sales, 6000s expenses.

Finance → Chart of accounts groups accounts by type and shows Code, Name, Class, Control and Status. Accounts from the standard chart are marked Template. A Control badge means the system uses the account for its own postings (for example AP, AR, INVENTORY, BANK); those accounts cannot be deactivated. Tick Show inactive to see accounts you have switched off.

Add or change an account

  1. Click Add account.
  2. Enter a Code of 3 to 8 digits (for example 6150) and a Name.
  3. Choose the Type and the Report class, which decides where it appears in the reports. Optionally pick a Parent account.
  4. Save. The account is ready for manual entries, supplier invoice charges and posting rules.
  5. Use Edit to rename. Use Deactivate to stop using an account; the history stays. Delete is only possible for your own accounts while nothing has posted to them and no rule uses them.

Payment accounts (cash and bank)

Payments, customer receipts and bank reconciliation only offer accounts flagged as payment accounts. Cash on hand and Bank current account are flagged already. If you have a second bank account, add it as an asset account, then click Use for payments on its row. The Payment account badge shows it is flagged.

Import opening balances

Opening balances are what each account held on the day you started using Sevo, taken from your old system or your accountant's last balance sheet. They come in as one journal entry.

  1. Open Finance → Journal and click Import opening balances.
  2. Click Download template. It has the columns account_code, description, debit and credit.
  3. Fill one row per account with either a debit or a credit, never both. Use the codes from your chart of accounts.
  4. Set As of to the day before you started using Sevo, and add a Memo if you like.
  5. Click Choose CSV… and pick your file. The preview shows each row with its account name.
  6. Check the message under the preview. Debits equal credits - ready to post means you can go on. If it says Out of balance, put the difference on an equity account such as Opening balance equity in your sheet and upload it again.
  7. Click Post opening balances. The entry number is shown when it is done.

Stock, receivables and payables in the opening balances should agree with the stock values and open bills you bring into the rest of Sevo, or the month-end checks will show differences.

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