Editing Chart of accounts (section)

==Administration ==
A chart of accounts is usually created for an organization by an accountant and available for use by the [[bookkeeper]]. 

Each account in the chart of accounts is typically assigned a name. Accounts may also be assigned a unique account number by which the account can be identified. Account numbers may be structured to suit the needs of an organization, such as digit/s representing a division of the company, a department, the type of account, etc. The first digit might, for example, signify the type of account (asset, liability, etc.). In accounting software, using the account number may be a more rapid way to post to an account, and allows accounts to be presented in numeric order rather than alphabetic order.

Accounts are used in the generation of a [[trial balance]], a list of the active general ledger accounts with their respective [[debits and credits|debit and credit]] balances used to test the completeness of a set of accounts: if the debit and credit totals match, the indication is that the accounts are being correctly maintained. However, a balanced trial balance does not guarantee that there are no errors in the individual ledger entries.

Accounts may be added to the chart of accounts as needed; they would not generally be removed, especially if any transaction had been posted to the account or if there is a non-zero balance.