Chart of Accounts

What is the Chart of Accounts?#

The Chart of Accounts is the list of income and expense categories your group uses to classify financial transactions. Think of it as the filing system for your money — every payment in, every payment out, gets assigned to a category.

Accessing the Chart of Accounts#

Navigate to Settings and find the Chart of Accounts section (admin only). The subtitle reads: "Manage income and expense categories for transactions".

How categories are used#

The categories you set up here appear as dropdown options throughout the finance system:

• Add Transaction dialog — when recording income or expenses, you select a category.
• Expense Claims — leaders submitting expense claims choose a category.
• Budget management — budgets can be organised by category.

Default categories#

Scoutworks provides a set of default categories covering common Scout group income and expenses. These cover the basics like:

• Income: Subscriptions, Camp fees, Donations, Gift Aid, Fundraising
• Expenses: Badges, Camping equipment, Hall hire, Insurance, Programme activities

Adding custom categories#

If the default categories do not cover your group's specific needs, you can add your own. For example:

• "Scout Association Levy" for your annual levy payments.
• "District Camp" for district-level residential events.
• "Uniform" for uniform purchases or subsidies.

Managing categories#

Edit or remove categories as your group's needs change. If a category has been used in transactions, you may need to reassign those transactions before removing it.

What's next#

• Accounting and Bookkeeping — record transactions using your categories.
• Budgets and Financial Reports — set up budgets by category.