A) 1-2, Any more than this means you are doing something wrong or you have multiple business units that require some differentiation. Even then, one would question why account numbers don't fall into a range of accounts for creating financial statements.
Title:VP Finance (plus consulting on the side for fun) Company: Rexanto
| Feb 22, 2012
One master: it can be helpful to use subsets so there is less noise at the department / subsidiary level from extraneous accounts. However assuming you've got one parent entity, it helps to have one account set to consolidate to.
Caveat: if you're international, you may need regional account systems due to legislation on how accounts are set up. So, for my last company, it was 3: one master and two foreign subsidiaries that had a COA legal requirement to meet.
Back when I was an A.T., we made what proved to be a major improvement. We went from posting to potentially 700 G/L accounts from Treasury's "cash desk" to posting to under 50 G/L accounts. The "trick" (not uncommon) was to simply use departmental "Suspense" G/L accounts to get Treasury out of trying to post too much detail. For example, Treasury would post all investment related cash transactions to "Investment Suspense". The investment department would be responsible for posting the off-setting detail.
Title:Assistant Treasurer Company: Integrys Energy Group
| Feb 24, 2012
I ran across a similar set-up once, but there were a lot of items that remained opened (thousands!) for long periods of time, since there was no natural owner because so many departments went into the mix.
Several clients, each of which only has one chart of accounts. Even if I had one with affiliates/foreign entities, etc. I would plan that over time they all converge to a single chart with entity identifier sub-codes.
When I have managed multi-unit companies, each would have their own COA, however:
1. I'd tried to make them as similar in both structure and numbering as possible
2. The consolidation would have an internal map, thus roll-up would be automatic (this was software specific)
Keeping the numbering as close as possible kept mis-postings down to a minimum, and the mapping made consolidated reporting a no-brainer.
Answers
Company: Packaging Dynamics
A) 1-2, Any more than this means you are doing something wrong or you have multiple business units that require some differentiation. Even then, one would question why account numbers don't fall into a range of accounts for creating financial statements.
Company: Rexanto
One master: it can be helpful to use subsets so there is less noise at the department / subsidiary level from extraneous accounts. However assuming you've got one parent entity, it helps to have one account set to consolidate to.
Caveat: if you're international, you may need regional account systems due to legislation on how accounts are set up. So, for my last company, it was 3: one master and two foreign subsidiaries that had a COA legal requirement to meet.
Company: Vertical Edge Consulting Group
Keith,
How are you accomplishing the mapping back to the master?
-Dean
Company:
Back when I was an A.T., we made what proved to be a major improvement. We went from posting to potentially 700 G/L accounts from Treasury's "cash desk" to posting to under 50 G/L accounts. The "trick" (not uncommon) was to simply use departmental "Suspense" G/L accounts to get Treasury out of trying to post too much detail. For example, Treasury would post all investment related cash transactions to "Investment Suspense". The investment department would be responsible for posting the off-setting detail.
Company: Integrys Energy Group
I ran across a similar set-up once, but there were a lot of items that remained opened (thousands!) for long periods of time, since there was no natural owner because so many departments went into the mix.
Company: FCB Homes
1 chart of accounts is much easier to manage. There is something to be said for simplicity.
Company: Troika Entertainment
1 chart of accounts that is common to all companies we manage we makes it easy to remember accounts when posting entry and consolidation is a breeze.
Company: Pacific Bag, Inc.
Several clients, each of which only has one chart of accounts. Even if I had one with affiliates/foreign entities, etc. I would plan that over time they all converge to a single chart with entity identifier sub-codes.
Company: SBA * Consulting, LTD
When I have managed multi-unit companies, each would have their own COA, however:
1. I'd tried to make them as similar in both structure and numbering as possible
2. The consolidation would have an internal map, thus roll-up would be automatic (this was software specific)
Keeping the numbering as close as possible kept mis-postings down to a minimum, and the mapping made consolidated reporting a no-brainer.