Your chart of accounts is the full list of ledger accounts your organization uses to record transactions. A ledger account is a single line in that list, such as Office Supplies or Grant Income. Every transaction you code lands in one of these accounts, so a clean, well-ordered chart keeps your reports accurate and your close on track.

Who can edit the chart

If you own the books (as an accountant, bookkeeper, or admin) you can add accounts, edit them, and change their status. Everyone else can view the chart but not change it.

If the action buttons described below aren't visible to you, you have view-only access. Ask an admin or whoever owns your books to make the change.

View your chart of accounts

Open the Chart of Accounts page from the main navigation under Accounting. Accounts are grouped by type (assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses) so related accounts sit together.
Expand a group to see its accounts. Each row shows the account code, the account name, and a status chip if the account isn't active. An account with sub-accounts (accounts nested under it) shows how many it contains.
Show or hide inactive accounts. By default the chart hides inactive accounts so the list stays focused on what you use day to day. Turn on Show inactive accounts at the top of the page to bring them back into view.

Add an account

When you manage your chart in ImpactGraph, the account name, account type, and account code are all required. On a chart synced from your accounting system, codes come from the source instead. See the synced-chart section below.

Click Account at the top of the Chart of Accounts page to open the account form. To create a sub-account instead, hover over the parent account and click the + (Add Child Account) button on that row. The new account is nested under it.
Fill in the account details:
- Name (required): what the account is called, for example "Office Supplies."
- Account type (required): choose from the list, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. For help choosing, see Ledger account types.
- Account code (required): the number you use to order and reference the account.
- Parent account (optional): set this to nest the account under another account as a sub-account. When you add a child account from a parent's row, the parent is set for you.
- Description (optional): a note about what belongs in the account.
Click Save. The new account appears in its group right away and is ready to code against.

Edit an account

Hover over the account you want to change and click the edit (pencil) icon on that row.
Update the fields you need: name, account code, account type, or description.
Click Save. Your changes apply immediately. Editing an account doesn't move any money or change how past transactions were recorded. It only updates the account's details going forward.

Change an account's status

An account has one of three statuses:

Active: in use, and available in the coding picker.
Pending: awaiting setup or sync, not yet ready to code against.
Inactive: retired, kept for its history but hidden from the everyday list and the coding picker.

When you stop using an account but need to keep its history, set it to inactive instead of deleting it. The account and its transactions stay in your records. The account just drops out of the everyday list and the coding picker.

Hover over the account and click the more (⋮) icon on that row.
Choose a status from the menu. Set the account to Inactive to retire it, or back to Active to bring it into use again.

The account keeps all of its transaction history either way. You can always show inactive accounts again with the Show inactive accounts toggle.

When you can't delete an account

You can delete an account that has no history. To protect your books, deletion is blocked in two cases:

The account has sub-accounts. Move or remove the sub-accounts first, or set the account to inactive instead.
The account has transactions coded to it. Deleting it would orphan that history, so it isn't allowed.

When you can't delete an account, set it to inactive instead. Nothing is deleted, no transaction history is lost, and the account stops appearing in the everyday list.

If your chart is synced from your accounting system

Synced charts are read-only here. If your organization connects ImpactGraph to your accounting system, your chart of accounts is managed there. An in-app alert reads: "This chart of accounts is synced from your accounting system and cannot be modified here." Make structural changes (adding, renaming, or removing accounts) in your accounting software. They sync back to ImpactGraph automatically. For what stays editable and what doesn't, see How a synced chart of accounts behaves.

A note on Account Mapping

The Chart of Accounts page links to Account Mapping in your accounting settings. Mapping tells ImpactGraph which of your ledger accounts to use for built-in activities like fees and payouts. That's a separate setup task from managing the chart itself, and it's covered in your accounting settings.