Chart of accounts

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The chart of accounts is a systematic register of all accounts for bookkeeping in an industry . It serves as a guideline and recommendation for drawing up a specific chart of accounts in a company. This is intended to achieve uniform bookings of the same business transactions and enable comparisons between companies.

construction

The chart of accounts is usually divided into account classes according to the system of ten. The accounts, which are as similar as possible in terms of their nature and content, are bundled here and structured according to the following principle:

  • The first digit indicates the account class .
  • The second digit indicates the account group.

Within the account groups, the third and fourth digits are divided into account types (subgroups). In some charts of accounts, two additional structural numbers are appended, resulting in six-digit account numbers.

Account class examples

Standard chart of accounts SKR 03:

  • 0: Investment and capital accounts
  • 1: Financial and personal accounts
  • 2: Accrual accounts
  • 3: Incoming goods and inventory accounts
  • 4: Operating expenses
  • 7: Stocks of articles
  • 8: Income accounts
  • 9: Lecture and statistical accounts

Standard chart of accounts SKR 04:

  • 0: Fixed assets (stock: active)
  • 1: Current assets (inventory: active)
  • 2: Equity accounts (stock: liabilities)
  • 3: Debt capital accounts (stock: liabilities)
  • 4: Operating income (success: income)
  • 5 and 6: Operating expenses (success: expenses)
  • 7: Other income and expenses (success: expenses, income)
  • 9: Lecture and statistical accounts (inventory: accruals, etc.)

Germany

Standard chart of accounts

  • SKR 04: Companies subject to mandatory disclosure - closing structure principle, chart of accounts according to the Accounting Directive Act (BiRiliG) taking into account the amendments to the Accounting Law Modernization Act (BilMoG)
The Business Management Committee of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) first published the Industry Accounts Framework (IKR) in 1971. This chart of accounts should replace the Community chart of accounts of industrial associations (GKR) of the industry, which had been in force since 1950. Changes to the GKR resulted from the changes in the Commercial Code (HGB) that came into force on January 1, 1986 . The IKR was last established in 1987 on the basis of the Accounting Directive Act (BiRiLiG; Act to implement the so-called 4th (individual financial statements), 7th (consolidated financial statements) and 8th (auditor) directives of the European Community (EC) into national German law ) published by the BDI.
The former joint accounting framework for industry (GKR) is divided into ten account classes (0 to 9) and follows the process structure principle. This means that the order of the accounts should correspond to the business process. The industrial account framework (IKR) also consists of ten account classes (0 to 9), but is structured according to the closing structure principle ( balance sheet and income statement ). It represents a two-circle system: accounting area I ( financial accounting , external accounting) and accounting area II ( cost and performance accounting, internal accounting) are self-contained groups of accounts. The cost and performance accounting is based on the IKR.
The DATEV Account Framework SKR 04 was developed in connection with the introduction of Book 3 of the HGB with the Accounting Directive Act of December 12, 1985 and is based on the structure of a balance sheet. Account classes 0 and 1 for fixed and current assets form the assets side of the balance sheet, account classes 2 and 3 for equity and debt capital form the liabilities side. The other account classes follow the profit and loss statement (P&L) structure: class 4 revenues, class 5 material costs, class 6 other operating expenses (personnel costs, room costs, vehicle costs, etc.), class 7 neutral expenses (e.g. interest ) and proceeds, class 8 is free and class 9 balance carryforward accounts. With the passing of the Accounting Law Modernization Act (BilMoG), the chart of accounts, like most other DATEV charts of accounts, was updated from the annual version for 2010 in accordance with the BilMoG requirements.

Further chart of accounts

There are also standard chart of accounts (SKR) for retail, banking, insurance and other industries. In addition to standard chart of accounts, accounting software also includes industry-specific charts of accounts as possible templates, which can be adapted in order to better evaluate the bookkeeping.

  • SKR 07: Based on the Austrian standard account framework
  • SKR 14: Agriculture and Forestry
  • SKR 30: Retail chart of accounts (has not been maintained by DATEV since 2007)
  • SKR 45: Homes and social institutions (nursing bookkeeping regulation (PBV)), is based on SKR 04 and in addition, accounts of the home account framework SKR 99 have been integrated
  • SKR 49: Association , foundation , non-profit GmbH
  • SKR 51: Car trade (car dealers and workshops)
  • SKR 70: Hotel and restaurants
  • SKR 80: Dentists
  • SKR 81: doctor's offices
  • SKR 99: Hospitals, homes, as well as so-called free chart of accounts (basis for self-processing)
The accounting framework for hospitals is determined by the Hospital Accounting Ordinance (KHBV).

Austria

The Austrian standard account framework is divided into 10 account classes (0 to 9) and follows the final classification principle. With its exclusive focus on financial accounting , it takes into account the principle of the two-circle system . The Austrian standard account framework is published by the Chamber of Tax Advisors and Auditors as an expert report KFS / BW 6.

Accounts 0 to 3 and 9 are used as stock accounts, 4 to 8 as profit accounts.

  • Class 0: Fixed Assets
  • Class 1: Supplies
  • Class 2: Other current assets, prepaid expenses, deferred tax assets
  • Class 3: Provisions, liabilities, deferred income
  • Class 4: Operating income
  • Class 5: Cost of materials and other related manufacturing services
  • Class 6: Personnel expenses
  • Class 7: Depreciation and other operating expenses
  • Class 8: Financial income and expenses, taxes on income and earnings, movement of reserves
  • Class 9: Equity, deposits by dormant partners, closing and records accounts

Switzerland

The first chart of accounts (KR) in Switzerland that claimed general validity was the “Chart of Accounts for Commercial Enterprises” (1947), written by Karl Käfer and commissioned by the Swiss Trade Association (SGV). This commercial chart of accounts was later published under the title "Chart of accounts for commercial, industrial and commercial enterprises" and for the last time in 1987. It was structured according to the closing structure principle, ie the structure of the closing accounts, balance sheet and income statement , specified the order of the accounts. It was divided into eight classes, which were divided into groups and accounts according to the system of decimal classification . Class 5 deliberately left Käfer free for internal billing ( cost accounting ) and advised businesses to manage this bill in tabular form in a company accounting sheet.

Commercial chart of accounts (1947, class structure)
Inventory accounts Success accounts graduation
1 2 3 6th 8th
Active Passives Material and goods costs Operating income Balance sheet
4th Income statement
Other operating expenses
7th 7th
Extraordinary effort, property accounting Extraordinary income, property accounts

Käfer formulated four requirements for a chart of accounts that are still valid today:

  1. Adaptability: "The framework should be so elastic that it can be adapted to any company, regardless of the branch or combination of sectors, and every type of company."
  2. Clarity and clarity: "The account classes and groups should be selected and arranged in such a way that a natural structure is created that clearly shows the relationships and can be easily understood and memorized."
  3. Unequivocal delimitation: "The content of the account classes, groups and individual accounts should be defined so sharply (as far as possible in the title) that precisely known account contents result, which allow a meaningful comparison over time and between companies."
  4. Easily evaluable results: "The figures that are of particular importance for assessing the economic situation of the business, for its calculation, for your own and for the association statistics, should appear as groups and account balances."

Boemle added in the foreword to the “SME chart of accounts” (see below) the consideration of the principles of proper accounting as a further requirement.

Legal and practical requirements made the commercial account framework obsolete after four decades. That is why the SGV had a commission with Walter Sterchi as the author draw up the “KMU chart of accounts” (1996). This chart of accounts for small and medium-sized enterprises had nine classes. The structure was again designed according to the closing structure principle; the balance sheet was conceivable in account or report form, the income statement in report form. Account classes were one-digit, main groups two-digit, groups three-digit and the accounts four-digit. This very detailed chart of accounts also has account subgroups and collective accounts. Cost accounting is not taken into account.

Chart of accounts SME (1996, structure)
Inventory accounts Success accounts 9 graduation
1 Active 3 Operating income from deliveries and services 90 Income statement
2 Passives 4th Expenditure for material, goods and services 91 Balance sheet
5 Personnel expenses 92 Appropriation of profits
6th Other operating expenses
7th Operational side successes
8th Extraordinary and external success, taxes 99 Collective and incorrect postings

With the revision of the thirty-second title Commercial Bookkeeping and Accounting in the Code of Obligations (status 2011, in force from January 2013), the revision of the chart of accounts became necessary again. A “gentle” revision followed. The SGV resigned as publisher in favor of veb.ch ( Association of Graduated Experts in Accounting and Controlling ). The “Swiss Chart of Accounts KMU” was published in 2013. The trustees Walter Sterchi, Herbert Mattle and Markus Helbling were the authors. They were accompanied by an expert commission. The structure of the chart of accounts takes into account, in particular, the structure of the balance sheet and the income statement prescribed for the first time by law (Art. 959a and 959b OR ) . As an adaptation to the use of accounting software, the balance sheet and income statement accounts to be understood as evaluations are no longer recorded in the chart of accounts; however, their positions in the chart of accounts have been kept vacant. The strict adherence to the decimal classification system is abandoned. The many gaps in the numbering are mostly blanks in which accounts (groups) can be inserted according to operational needs. The vocabulary has changed slightly; However, users can still use their own meaningful names. There are no guidelines for internal accounting.

Swiss chart of accounts for SMEs (2013), overview of the classes and main groups
Should To have
01 Active 02 Passives
10 Current assets 20th short-term borrowed capital
20th Capital assets 24 Long-term liabilities
28 Equity
04th Expenditure on material, merchandise, services and energy 03 Operating income from deliveries and services
40 Cost of materials 30th Production revenue
42 Trade goods expense 32 Trade proceeds
44 Cost of purchased services 34 Service revenue
45 Energy expenditure for the production of services
46 Other expenses for material, merchandise, services 36 Other income from deliveries and services
47 Direct shopping expenses 37 Own work and own consumption
48 Changes in inventory, material and goods losses 38 Sales reductions
49 Purchase price reductions 39 Changes in inventory of work in progress and finished goods as well as non-invoiced services
05 Personnel expenses
50 Production personnel costs
52 Trade personnel expenses
54 Personnel expenses services
56 Personnel expenses administration
57 Social security expense
58 remaining personnel expenses
59 third party contributions
06th Other operating expenses, depreciation and amortization, and financial results
60 Space requirement
61 Maintenance, repairs, replacement (URE); Leasing mobile systems
62 Vehicle and transport costs
63 Property insurance, duties, fees, permits
64 Energy and disposal costs
65 Administrative and IT expenses
66 Advertising expenditure
67 Other operational expenses
68 Depreciation and valuation adjustments on items of fixed assets
69 Finance expense and finance income
07th Business side success
70 Success from ancillary businesses
75 Success from company properties
08th Non-operating, extraordinary, one-time and non-period expenses and income
80 External expenses and external income
85 Extraordinary, one-time and out-of-period expenses and income
89 Direct taxes
09 graduation
92 Appropriation of profits
99 Auxiliary accounts and sub-ledgers

Project chart of accounts

For large / complex investment and construction projects ( projects ), engineering and project companies use special project chart of accounts and project-oriented project account plans for planning as well as the proper recording and billing of engineering and construction services.

Chart of accounts in class

The chart of accounts is a central means for the learners to get an overview of the accounts of the financial accounting. A chart of accounts based on the closing principle shows the learners the order of the items in the closing accounts. It can also be used as a support for a thematic structure in financial accounting. The classics of the chart of accounts have already emphasized its didactic significance. Eugen Schmalenbach mentioned the chart of accounts and parallel graphical representations as important teaching instruments. Since the appearance of the commercial account framework in Switzerland, it has been customary to use this or its two successors at all levels in teaching. Karl Käfer was able to make the following remark in the USA based on experience:

"Commonly-applied national charts of accounts are valuable tools for education and training of management personnel at all levels. An accountant changing employment from one company to another will find a very similar set of accounts and will be easily instructed. I mentioned before the usefulness of such a chart teaching purposes, especially at lower levels of instructions. "

Peter Preiss, a representative of the teaching of economic instruments at the Göttingen School, advises not only to present one type of chart of accounts, but also to present several (common in Germany) charts of accounts. In addition to the IKR industrial accounting framework, the GKR community accounting framework, the DATEV standard accounting framework, etc. A.

A multilevel use of charts of accounts and charts of accounts is common in school books. Understanding the chart of accounts (and the charts of accounts derived from it) leads from a naively used catalog for the choice of accounts to the "difficult" accounts ( del credere , real estate, securities accounts , etc.), whose particularity becomes clearer with the chart of accounts . The mastery of the balance sheet structure and the multi-level income statement goes parallel to the theory of the chart of accounts.

In Switzerland, veb.ch, as the publisher of the Swiss SME chart of accounts, has published an official school version of the same. Textbook authors and schools are free to choose their own school account framework correctly derived from the original.

See also

Web links

General

Germany

Austria

Switzerland

literature

  • Karl Käfer : Chart of accounts for commercial enterprises. Developed on behalf of and with the participation of the business management committee of the Swiss Trade Association by Dr. Karl Käfer, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Zurich. Paul Haupt Publishing House, Bern 1947.
  • Karl Käfer: Chart of accounts for commercial, industrial and commercial enterprises. 10th edition. Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern 1987, ISBN 3-258-03153-3 .
  • Peter Preiss: Didactics of economic instrument accounting. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-25240-2 .
  • Eugen Schmalenbach : The chart of accounts. In: Journal for commercial research . Vol. 21, H. IX, 1927, pp. 385-402.
  • Eugen Schmalenbach: The chart of accounts. GA Glöckner, Leipzig 1930.
  • Walter Sterchi: SME chart of accounts. Swiss chart of accounts for small and medium-sized companies in production, trade and services. Swiss Trade Association, Bern 1996, ISBN 3-9520486-1-5 .
  • Walter Sterchi, Herbert Mattle, Markus Helbling: Swiss chart of accounts for SMEs. Verlag SKV and veb.ch, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-286-51075-3 .
  • Vinzenz Winkler: Teaching and learning the chart of accounts. A subject didactics with tasks. BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7460-2557-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Thomas Zimmer: Insolvency accounting internal accounting of the insolvency administrator . 2nd Edition. RWS Verlag Kommunikationforum, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-8145-9013-4 , p. 161 .
  2. ↑ SKR-InsO (Version 2014-01) - SKR-InsO Forum. Retrieved July 25, 2017 .
  3. ^ Karl Käfer: Chart of accounts for commercial enterprises . Paul Haupt Publishing House, Bern 1947.
  4. ^ Karl Käfer: Chart of accounts for commercial enterprises. Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern 1947, p. 10 ff .
  5. ↑ Max Boemle in the foreword to Walter Sterchi: KMU chart of accounts . Swiss Trade Association, Bern 1996, ISBN 3-9520486-1-5 , p. 19 .
  6. ^ Walter Sterchi: Chart of accounts for SMEs . Swiss Trade Association, Bern 1996, ISBN 3-9520486-1-5 .
  7. ^ Walter Sterchi, Herbert Mattle, Markus Helbling: Swiss chart of accounts for SMEs . Verlag SKV and veb.ch, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-286-51075-3 , p. 10 .
  8. ^ Walter Sterchi, Herbert Mattle, Markus Helbling: Swiss chart of accounts for SMEs . Verlag SKV, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-286-51075-3 , p. 28 .
  9. ↑ Eugen Schmalenbach: The chart of accounts . GA Glöckner, Leipzig 1930, p. 6 .
  10. ^ Karl Käfer: European National Uniform Charts of Accounts . In: 'The International Journal of Accounting . tape 1 , 1965, p. 67-84 .
  11. ↑ Peter Preiss: Didactics of economic instrumental accounting . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag ,, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-25240-2 , p. 357 ff .