Chart of accounts template

A starting list of accounts for a small business's books, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses. Download it, then add, rename or remove accounts to suit how your business runs.

By Book Keeping Pros
Sources checked 15 Oct 2026

A chart of accounts is the list of accounts a business uses to classify its transactions. This template gives you a short, general list to start from, so each kind of income and expense has one clear place in your books and your reports group them the same way every month.

It is a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet program. It holds account codes, names, groups and descriptions, and is not set up for importing directly into any particular accounting software, so check the format your software expects before you load accounts into it.

Download the template

The template as a CSV file, which opens in any spreadsheet program.

Download the CSV file

What's in the template

Illustrative example: the rows of the chart of accounts template
Code	Account name	Type	What goes in it
1-1000	Business bank account	Asset	Money in the business's main bank account
1-1100	Petty cash	Asset	Cash kept on hand for small purchases
1-1200	Accounts receivable	Asset	Invoices sent to customers and not yet paid
1-1300	Inventory	Asset	Stock held for sale
1-1400	Prepaid expenses	Asset	Costs paid in advance, such as annual insurance
1-2000	Equipment	Asset	Tools, computers and other equipment the business owns
1-2100	Motor vehicles	Asset	Vehicles the business owns
1-2200	Furniture and fittings	Asset	Furniture, fit-out and renovations
2-1000	Accounts payable	Liability	Supplier bills received and not yet paid
2-1100	Business credit card	Liability	The balance owing on the business credit card
2-1200	Accrued expenses	Liability	Costs incurred but not yet billed or paid, such as wages earned but not yet paid
2-2000	Business loan	Liability	The balance of a loan repaid over more than a year
3-1000	Owner's capital	Equity	Money the owner has put into the business
3-1100	Owner's drawings	Equity	Money the owner has taken out of the business for personal use
3-2000	Retained earnings	Equity	Profits kept in the business from earlier years
4-1000	Sales	Income	Income from selling goods or services
4-2000	Interest received	Income	Interest earned on business bank accounts
4-3000	Other income	Income	Income that is not from the main business activity
5-1000	Cost of goods sold	Expense	The cost of the stock sold to customers
6-1000	Advertising and marketing	Expense	Ads, promotion and marketing costs
6-1100	Bank fees	Expense	Account fees and merchant fees
6-1200	Insurance	Expense	Business insurance premiums
6-1300	Interest paid	Expense	Interest on business loans and credit cards
6-1400	Office supplies	Expense	Stationery, printing and small office items
6-1500	Rent	Expense	Rent for business premises
6-1600	Repairs and maintenance	Expense	Repairs to equipment, vehicles and premises
6-1700	Software subscriptions	Expense	Accounting, office and other software
6-1800	Telephone and internet	Expense	Phone and internet plans
6-1900	Utilities	Expense	Electricity, gas and water
6-2000	Wages and salaries	Expense	Gross wages and salaries paid to employees

Illustrative example only: these rows show the method and are not sourced data.

What goes in each column

Code: A number that sorts the account into its group: 1 for assets, 2 for liabilities, 3 for equity, 4 for income, and 5 and 6 for expenses.
Account name: The name that appears in your books and reports.
Type: Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense, which decides whether the account appears on the balance sheet or the profit and loss statement.
What goes in it: The transactions to record against the account.

How to use it

Download the CSV file and open it in a spreadsheet program.
Delete the accounts your business will never use, such as inventory if you sell only services.
Add an account only when you want to see that figure on its own in your reports, and give it a code in the right group.
Keep each account for one kind of transaction, and don't change what an account is used for partway through a financial year.
Set the accounts up in your bookkeeping system in the format it expects, then record each transaction against the accounts it affects.

Related terms

Sources

Key financial terms
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 15 October 2026, released 9 July 2024. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.

Related guides

How to set up your bookkeeping
The decisions that set up a small business's books: a business bank account, a bookkeeping system, cash or accrual, your accounts and a routine.
How to read a balance sheet
What each part of a balance sheet means, how to work out net assets and working capital, and what the figures say about a small business.