xtraCHEF: Chart of Accounts

In this Article:

• What Is a Chart of Accounts?
• Leverage your COA
• Create or Sync Your COA
• COA Examples
  • Basic Example
  • Detailed Example

What Is a Chart of Accounts?

A chart of accounts (COA) is a list of a business's accounts broken out for accounting purposes. Having a structured COA creates the framework for a business to better understand and track where their money is coming from and going.

Typically, a COA is broken out by account types such as assets, liabilities, revenue, equity, cost of goods sold (COGS), and expenses. Those account types may then be split into even more specific groups, commonly referred to as general ledger codes (GL Codes).
 

In xtraCHEF, you can create or sync your existing COA to align reporting with your accounting framework and leverage its expense-tracking capabilities. Most businesses already using an accounting system, bookkeeper, or accountant will likely have a COA in place.

This 3-minute video discusses general ledger (GL) Codes and how they come into play in xtraCHEF.
 

 Leverage your COA

In addition to creating the framework for xtraCHEF's Invoice, Sales, and Payroll syncs for QuickBooks, your COA tracks where the money comes from and goes on different levels.

As an example, let's say you see that you've spent $1500 on your cost of goods (purchases) this week. Upon reviewing your  report in xtraCHEF, you notice that this is a $300 increase from the week prior. Luckily, your COGS accounts are broken up into GL codes such as food purchases, beverage purchases, and non-alcoholic beverage purchases. Upon investigating, you can conclude that most of your costs this week went into food purchases.

In xtraCHEF, a number of reports utilize your COA like this to provide to-the-cent tracking capabilities and spotlight areas of your business where improvements can be made.

Create or Sync Your COA

• If you already have a COA for your restaurant and are a QuickBooks Online or Desktop user, you can import it by connecting with xtraCHEF. Detailed Instructions on this step can be found here:  or .
• If you already have a COA for your restaurant and do not use QuickBooks for accounting, your Onboarding Consultant can upload it into your account on your behalf. You can also add your COA to xtraCHEF by creating GL codes. Detailed instructions on this step can be found in .
• If you do not have a COA for your restaurant, you can build one as you go by creating GL codes. Detailed instructions on this step can be found here:
  • Charts of Accounts can vary significantly from restaurant to restaurant and range from simple to quite complex. For restaurants building a new COA from scratch, it's important to create this framework according to your needs and operation.
  • Not sure of how things should be assigned? Here's a sample COA for common setups that we see:

COA Examples

Basic Example

Here is an example of a COA that is organized on a higher level of overall food and beverage.

Detailed Example

Here is an example of a COA that has been broken down into categories such as “meat” and “dairy”.

This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for advice.