Personal chart of accounts: a starter template you can copy or download

What a chart of accounts does

Every transaction you record is assigned to accounts from this list. That makes the chart the skeleton your reports are built on: if you never separate mortgage interest from principal, no report can show you either one.

A good chart is short enough to maintain and detailed enough to answer the questions you really ask. What did housing cost? What did we pay in taxes? How much do we owe? In double-entry accounting, each account is one of five types (assets, liabilities, equity, income or expenses), and the chart is organized the same way.

How the numbering works

Numbers keep reports in a predictable order and leave gaps, so you can add accounts later without renumbering anything. The starter chart follows the convention most accountants know: the first digit tells you the type.

Parent accounts sit on the hundreds (Housing is 5000) and their children follow (Mortgage Interest is 5001).

The starter chart, account by account

Here is the full starter chart: 91 accounts. Shaded rows are parent accounts, which roll their children up into a subtotal. Delete what doesn't apply, rename what does, and add what's missing. Prefer a file? Download it as Excel.

Assets

What you own. 14 accounts.

Liabilities

What you owe. 7 accounts.

Equity

Your net worth at the start, before income and expenses. 1 account.

Income

Money coming in. 8 accounts.

Expenses

Money going out. 61 accounts, grouped under parents.

How to adapt it to your household

• Delete what you don't use. 91 accounts cover a lot of households. Yours probably doesn't need all of them, and an account with no activity is clutter.
• Give every real balance its own account. Each bank account, card, loan and investment account gets a line. Rename "Credit Card 1" to something you'll recognize, such as "Visa ending 4412".
• Use parents and children for subtotals. Put Mortgage Interest and Property Tax under Housing, and a Housing report shows the total without losing the detail.
• Add an account when the same question comes up twice. If you keep wondering what you spend on home improvements, give it a line.
• Keep taxes withheld separate. Federal and state income tax and FICA each get an account, so a paycheck can be recorded at gross pay.
• Keep loans and their interest apart. The loan is a liability and the interest is an expense. Splitting every payment between them is what shows your debt shrinking.
• Note which balances you update by hand. A home or a pension has no live feed, so remember to refresh its value.

Mistakes to avoid

• Too many categories. Two hundred expense accounts means you'll never categorize consistently, and the reports get noisier, not smarter.
• A giant Miscellaneous bucket. Some spending won't fit anywhere. If Miscellaneous is one of your largest lines, it's hiding information.
• Treating transfers as income or expenses. Moving money between your own accounts, or paying a card from checking, is neither income nor spending.
• One "Loans" account. A mortgage, a car loan and a student loan have different balances, rates and payoff dates.
• Mixing business and household books. If you run a business, keep its books separate. Its chart looks nothing like this one.
• Renumbering later. Leave gaps in the numbering when you start.

Setting it up in Qualaby

Qualaby can import a chart of accounts from Excel. In the app, open Import → Chart of Accounts, download the template (it comes prefilled with this starter chart), edit it in Excel, and upload it.

A preview flags problems before anything is created: a missing name, an unrecognized type, or a parent that doesn't match any account. Accounts that already exist are matched, not duplicated, and the Type column sets each account's normal balance automatically.

The in-app template has a few optional columns the plain Excel file here doesn't:

• Asset duration (cash cushion, short, medium or long term), which feeds cash forecasting and the Cash Cushion measure.
• Primary checking, to mark your main account.
• Retirement, for 401(k)s, IRAs, HSAs and similar accounts.
• FMV adjustable, for accounts you update by hand, such as a home or a pension.

Coming from QuickBooks Desktop? You can skip this and let the import create your accounts from your history. See moving your QuickBooks Desktop history to Qualaby.

Common questions

How many accounts should a personal chart of accounts have?

There's no right number: enough that your reports answer the questions you ask, and few enough that you categorize consistently. The starter chart has 91 accounts because it covers many kinds of households. Most people delete the ones that don't apply.

Do I need account numbers?

No. They're optional, but they keep reports in a consistent order and make it easy to add accounts later. In Qualaby the Number column is optional too.

Can I use a business chart of accounts for my household?

You can, but business charts are organized around revenue, cost of goods sold, payroll and sales tax. A household needs retirement accounts, mortgage and loan splits, and a net worth view, so start from a personal chart instead.

What's the difference between a chart of accounts and a budget?

The chart is the list of buckets. A budget is a plan for how much you expect to put in each income and expense bucket over a period.

Where do I record my starting balances?

Pick a start date, enter each asset and liability as of that date, and the difference goes to Opening Balance Equity. The double-entry guide walks through it with numbers.