Cleaning business chart of accounts
A cleaning business earns from regular contracts and one-off jobs, and pays for the people who clean, the chemicals they use and the travel between sites. These accounts add those costs, and deposits for booked cleans, to the general chart.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
What this industry adds
- Subcontracted cleaners holds invoices from cleaners who work as subcontractors, so what each contract pays out to them can be checked against its income.
- Cleaning chemicals and consumables records the detergents, disinfectants, cloths, mop heads and bin liners used up on jobs.
- Booking deposits for one-off cleans tracks deposits paid for end-of-lease, carpet or window cleans that are still to be done.
- Travel between client sites, Cleaner uniforms, and Police checks and site inductions cover what it costs to move cleaners between sites, kit them out and clear them to start at a client's premises.
Download the chart
The general accounts and this industry's accounts in one CSV file, in code order, which opens in any spreadsheet program.
Download the CSV fileThe accounts this chart adds
| Code | Account name | Type | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-1300 | Booking deposits for one-off cleans | Liability | Deposits customers have paid when booking an end-of-lease, carpet or window clean that hasn't been done yet |
| 5-1100 | Subcontracted cleaners | Expense | Invoices from cleaners who work on the business's contracts and one-off jobs as subcontractors |
| 5-1200 | Cleaning chemicals and consumables | Expense | Detergents, disinfectants, cloths, mop heads, vacuum bags and bin liners used up on cleaning jobs |
| 6-2100 | Travel between client sites | Expense | Fuel card charges, tolls, parking and fares for cleaners travelling between client sites during the working day |
| 6-2110 | Cleaner uniforms | Expense | Branded uniforms supplied to cleaners and replaced as they wear out |
| 6-2120 | Police checks and site inductions | Expense | Police checks and client induction courses that cleaners complete before starting work at a client's premises |
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
- Give each contract or site its own job code, and put it on subcontractor invoices and chemical orders as you enter them.
- Put booking deposits in Booking deposits for one-off cleans under the booking reference, and match each one to the final payment once the clean is done. How they later move into income is a question for your accountant.
- Check fuel card statements each month and code the charges to Travel between client sites.
- These accounts track the cleaning business's own money from contracts and jobs. Your accountant can say whether your setup needs more.
The chart is a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet program. It is not set up for importing directly into any particular accounting software, so check the format your software expects before you load the accounts into it.
Related pages
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.
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