QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

Naming and Numbering Accounts

Accountants and bookkeepers tend to refer to accounts by both numbers and names. This section explains why you should set up naming and numbering conventions—and suggests some rules you can follow—but it won’t explain the meaning of all the different names you’ll find in your chart of accounts. If you accept the accounts that QuickBooks recommends in the EasyStep Interview, your accounts already have assigned names and numbers, as shown in Figure 3-1. You might think that lets you off the hook. But by taking the time to learn standard account numbers and names, you’ll find working with accounts more logical, and you’ll understand more of what your accountant and bookkeeper say.

Figure 3-1. Accounts that QuickBooks adds to your chart of accounts during the EasyStep Interview come with assigned names and numbers. If you don’t see account numbers in the Chart of Accounts window (open it by pressing Ctrl+A), choose Edit→Preferences→Accounting, and then click the Company Preferences tab (you have to be a QuickBooks user with administrator privileges to open this tab). When you turn on the “Use account numbers” checkbox and then click OK, the numbers appear in the Chart of Accounts window.

Setting Up Account Numbers

Companies reserve ranges of numbers for different types of accounts, so they can identify the type of account by its account ...