The Chart of Accounts is a list of the names of accounts that your firm uses and made available to record transactions in its general ledger. Your firm has the ability to set up this chart of accounts for your business' specific needs, including adding additional accounts as needed.
Account Types
How are my firm's transactions represented in the Chart of Accounts?
How to Add a New Account
Chart of Accounts Overview
The chart of accounts lists all of your firm’s financial accounts. These accounts are necessary to categorize and track your transactions in the firm’s general ledger.
During the accounting setup process, you will notice that there are initial steps you will need to complete to get started. To set up your chart of accounts, you will need to complete step 1 on the accounting dashboard.
After completing step 1, you can set up your chart of accounts under the general ledger setup wizard and selecting the “set up accounts” button. From here, you can choose if you want to use the chart of accounts provided by MyCase, or import your own from another accounting program.
MyCase automatically sets up the most commonly used accounts. Most of these accounts include transactions already entered into MyCase and automatically sync over during the first steps in the setup process.
If you are switching over from another accounting program, simply export your current chart of accounts, and a team member will import it into MyCase accounting.
Before exporting your chart of accounts, we recommend you run a final report to ensure you are importing the most current information.
Here is a list of export instructions from the most commonly used accounting programs:
Export Guides
Quickbooks Online
From your QuickBooks menu, select the chart of accounts.
In the menu, choose reports and the account listing.
Select the Excel dropdown in the account listing report.
Select create a new worksheet and then select export as a .csv (comma-separated values) file.
Once your chart of accounts is exported, you can email it to accounting.support@mycase.com for importing assistance or save this file for self-importing using the chart of account template available in the MyCase accounting module.
Quickbooks Desktop
Go to the transaction toolbar.
Select reports.
Select transaction journal.
Select the QuickBooks reports menu.
Select the transaction journal and save the file.
To export, go to the lists menu and select the item list.
Select the Excel dropdown icon, then choose to export all items.
Select the option to export as a .csv file.
Select export.
Name the file and save it to your computer.
Once you have exported your chart of accounts, you can email it to accounting.support@mycase.com for importing assistance or save this file for self-importing using the chart of account template available in the MyCase accounting module.
PCLaw
Start by selecting export to spreadsheet.
Select the end date you wish to export your general ledger balances through.
In the export format pop-up box, select .csv file.
For the output file area, select:
Path box – select the location where you want to save the file.
Select the browse button.
Name the file.
5. Select ok to export your general ledger balances.
6. Once you have exported your chart of accounts, you can either email this to accounting.support@mycase.com for importing assistance by an accounting specialist with MyCase or save this file for self-importing using the chart of account template available in the accounting module.
Practice Panther
Select more and then reports
Select the general ledger report
Select the export to excel .csv file in the top right of the list
Once you have exported your chart of accounts, you can either email this to accounting.support@mycase.com for importing assistance by an accounting specialist with MyCase or save this file for self-importing using the chart of account template available in the accounting module.
Please note: You must include the headers above using the same titles and placement.
MyCase Chart of Accounts Template
To download the chart of accounts template, select set up accounts under the general ledger set-up wizard on the accounting dashboard.
The general ledger account setup popup appears.
Select the hyperlink that says, upload your chart of accounts.
The MyCase template to download the MyCase Template is located below. Select the hyperlink and download the template.
Account Types
When choosing the account type for your accounts, it is important that you choose from the list of account types below. Failure to do so will result in you receiving an error message during importing. The accounting program recognizes the different account types and assigns the appropriate account number.
Current Asset
Non-current Asset
Bank
Trust
Current Liability
Non-current Liability
Credit Card
Trust Liability
Non-trust Credit Liability
Equity
Operating Revenue
Non-operating Revenue
Operating Expense
Non-operating Expense
Cost of Goods Sold
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Payable
Reconciliation Discrepancies
Revenue
Conversion Balance Adjustments
Opening Balance Equity
Subscription Revenue
Advanced Client Costs
Write Off Expense
Interest Earned
Tax Payable.
Note: You do not need to import your operating or trust accounts. They should already be in MyCase for your payments, and as such, they will automatically appear in your chart of accounts.
Once you have your accounts ready for importing, make sure your chart of accounts is saved as a .csv file, and either select the click to browse button or drag and drop your .csv file into the box and select create accounts.
The accounting module automatically assigns account numbers for each of your accounts. If you wish to keep the same account numbers used in your previous accounting program, you can do that while importing your chart of accounts.
How to Add a New Account
You can add additional accounts to your chart of accounts at any time.
1. Add a new account by hovering your mouse over the accounting tab and selecting chart of accounts from the drop-down menu.
2. Once you are in the chart of accounts, select the “add account” button in the upper right of the screen and fill out the information for your new account.
You can also make the new account a sub-account of an account that already exists by selecting is sub-account box and selecting the name of the parent account.
How are my firm's transactions represented in the Chart of Accounts?
Your firm's transactions are represented in the Chart of Accounts using standard practices for double-entry accounting. Double-entry accounting requires that every financial transaction must have equal and opposite effects in at least two different accounts. As such, your transactions are represented with a credit to one account and an equal debit to another.
For example, expense accounts are debited because they take away from equity and have a debit balance, while revenue accounts are always credited because they increase equity and have a credit balance.
Visit the Accounting Need to Know Article to learn more about credits and debits.
How to Manually Add a Journal Entry, Transfer Funds, and Record a Bank Deposit
Adding journal entries, recording transfers, and bank deposits can all be done within the chart of accounts.
To manually add a journal entry, start by navigating to the chart of accounts, selecting the drop-down arrow next to journal entries in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and clicking on journal entry.
It is important to note that the MyCase system automatically creates journal entries for the client transactions you record. To avoid double entries within your general ledger, make sure that you are only creating journal entries for transactions that are not client related.
To Add a Journal Entry
To Record a Transfer
To Record a Bank Deposit
You can record your firm’s bank deposits within the chart of accounts, by selecting the add entry dropdown, bank deposit, and enter the deposit information in the popup box. You can use this option to record deposits that are made for your firm.
Please note, the record bank deposit should only be used to record deposits that are not related to a client matter. Client related payments will need to be recorded under the client matter to ensure that the payments will sync over to the appropriate general ledger accounts, and not result in a double journal entry.
If you have any questions or need assistance setting up your chart of accounts, please reach out to our accounting support team at accounting.support@mycase.com.