Adding a new nominal account

Introduction

Adding new nominal accounts is a good way to separate out specific income streams and provide more granular categorisation on your outgoings. Be careful not to go over the top creating new nominal accounts, in most cases you can use one of the existing codes. The current presets are based on accepted accounting standards and it is unlikely in most cases that you will need to elaborate further on these.

That said, if you wish to add a new nominal account you are able to do so from within the Chart of Accounts Screen (under reports).

Step by Step

Once logged into your QuickFile account, click the ‘Reports’ item in the main horizontal menu.
From the ‘Reports’ menu select ‘Chart of Accounts’ from the drop down list.
The full Chart of Nominal Accounts will now be displayed, click the ‘Create New Account’ button.
The ‘Create a New Nominal Account’ dialogue box will now appear on the screen.
Select the ‘Category’ of the new nominal account you want to create. If you’re unsure which category to select, simply take a look at the Chart of Nominal Accounts for a similar nominal code to the one you wish to create as we’ve already grouped all the nominal codes into the correct categories on the Chart of Nominal Accounts. You can alternatively enter a specific code for your new nominal account, this has the affect of automatically assigning the category based on the number used. All the category and sub-category options do is define a number range on the chart of accounts.

Bear in mind that the category you select here will determine the treatment of any entries to this nominal code on your reports. Assets and Liabilities will appear on your balance sheet report. Sales, purchases, direct expenses and overheads will appear on your Profit and Loss report. To fully understand the purpose of each category take a look here!
Now the select ‘Sub-Category’ of the new nominal account you want to create. The main Categories when creating new nominal codes are usually ‘Sales’ or ‘Purchases’ therefore to help you, when you select either of these Categories a default Sub-Category will appear, if you’re unsure of what Sub-Categories to select, we recommend using the default. The sub-category is not so important, it just defines a more precise location that the code will appear on the chart of accounts.
Type the ‘Account Name’ of the new nominal account you want to create.
Type any ‘Notes’ required for the new nominal account you want to create, maybe something that will help other understand what the nominal account is for.
Finally click the ‘Save’ button to save the the new nominal account. Your new nominal account is now available to use!

Using your new nominal code

When entering your purchase invoices you can post any items to the nominal code of your choice by setting the appropriate category option. Category is the same as nominal code in QuickFile, perhaps just a bit more user friendly, they essentially mean the same thing.

For sales invoices it’s a little more hidden. To change the nominal code of a sales invoice item click the grey cog icon adjacent to the line item you want to edit. You can then change the drop down category option.

You can of course use these nominal codes in bank tagging, receipt hub tagging and journals too.