Configure the chart of accounts

Configure the chart of accounts

Alice configures the chart of accounts early, because most other workflows depend on stable account references. The chart of accounts is stored as schema-validated repository data, so later postings can refer to accounts deterministically.

  1. Alice initializes the accounts datasets if they are not already present:
cd 2026-bookkeeping
bus accounts init
  1. Alice lists the current chart of accounts so she can see what exists and what still needs to be added:
bus accounts list
  1. Alice appends the baseline set of accounts she needs for her day-to-day workflow:
bus accounts add --help

bus accounts add \
  --code 1910 --name "Bank" --type asset

bus accounts add \
  --code 1700 --name "Accounts Receivable" --type asset

bus accounts add \
  --code 3000 --name "Consulting Income" --type income

bus accounts add \
  --code 2930 --name "VAT Payable" --type liability

Each addition updates accounts.csv and validates invariants such as uniqueness and allowed account types. If the command is incorrect, it fails with a non-zero exit code and leaves the workspace datasets unchanged.

  1. Alice validates the resulting dataset:
bus accounts validate
  1. Alice records the change as a new revision using her version control tooling.