--- title: "Chart of accounts: Definition and Sources | Tax Glossary" description: "A chart of accounts is the list of named accounts, such as income, expense, asset and liability accounts, that a business uses to sort its transactions." url: https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/chart-of-accounts publisher: Wallace CPA phone: +1-877-682-1171 quote: https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/contact --- Bookkeeping and payroll # Chart of accounts A chart of accounts is the list of named accounts, such as income, expense, asset and liability accounts, that a business uses to sort its transactions. A chart of accounts is the menu of categories for your books. Every sale, bill and payment is posted to one of its accounts. Typical groups are assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses. The IRS describes a ledger as a book that contains the totals from all of your journals, organized into different accounts. A clear list makes reports reliable and tax time faster. Too many accounts add noise, and too few hide costs. Set it up before you enter data in software, then change it with care. It feeds your [profit and loss statement](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/profit-and-loss-statement) and [balance sheet](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/balance-sheet). The [QuickBooks setup section](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/services/quickbooks#setup) of the services pages covers this step. [Wallace CPA can helpQuickBooks setup, training and cleanup](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/services/quickbooks) ## Related terms - [Bookkeeping](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/bookkeeping) - [Profit and loss statement](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/profit-and-loss-statement) - [Balance sheet](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/balance-sheet) - [Accrual accounting](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/glossary/accrual-accounting) ## Sources 1. [IRS: Publication 583, Starting a business and keeping records](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p583) ## Talk to Wallace CPA Call the Southlake office and say what you need: a return, an IRS letter, your books or a new business. Have the notice or last year's return nearby if you have one. [Call (877) 682-1171](tel:+1-877-682-1171)[Send a message](https://wallacecpa.multisites.ai/contact) 180 State Street, Suite 225, Southlake, TX 76092