Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts lists all the accounts available for recording double-entry transactions carried out by the business. The accounts are grouped into one of the ten components defined by the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI). These components are:

1. Assets

2. Liabilities

3. Owner’s capital (for sole proprietorships) or Partners’ capital (for partnerships) or Shareholders’ equity (for corporations)

4. Retained earnings/deficit (for corporations only)

5. Non-farming income

6. Non-farming expenses

7. Farming income

8. Farming expenses

9. Other comprehensive income

10. Extraordinary items and income taxes

The first four components represent the balance sheet and reflect the business’s financial structure. The other six components include the operating accounts found in the income statement. This categorization is reflected, among others, in Schedules 100 and 125 used when filing corporate income tax returns with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Each account is identified by a unique number (Column E) to which is associated a GIFI code (Column D) used to define the account class. Account numbers must be listed in ascending order and their values ​​depend on the account class to which they belong. See the “Account Classes” section below for more details.

Some combinations of account number and GIFI code are predefined. These accounts correspond to totals or subtotals, or are associated with sales tax calculations and reporting. See the “Predefined Items” section below for more details.

Note: Editing the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet is only possible if a subscription is in effect for it.

The spreadsheets contained in the template file that you selected based on the structure of your business and then copied to your Google Drive must be adjusted to your needs.

First, you must adjust the “Income Statement” section based on the industry in which your business operates. 

For non-farming businesses, delete the rows belonging to the “Farming Revenue” and “Farming Expenses” components from the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet, with the exception of row “9970 | 7970 | Net Income/Net Loss...”. Once the deletion operation is complete, this row should be directly below the “9369 | 5969 | Net Non-Agricultural Income” row.

For farming businesses, you may want to delete from the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet the rows belonging to the “Income” and/or “Expenses” components if you decide to consolidate all non-farming income and/or expenses under the “9650 | 69xx | Non-farming Income” and “9850 | 78xx | Non-farming Expenses” items, respectively.

Second, the “Chart of Accounts” and “Journal” spreadsheets must be customized to reflect your business’s registration status with the federal and provincial tax authorities for the collection of sales taxes. The GST/HST and the four provincial sales taxes, namely those of British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec (QST) and Saskatchewan, can be collected in parallel in order to be able to calculate, for a given reporting period, the sales tax balances†.

Scenario 1 - business not registered with a provincial tax authority

• delete:

  • columns “G” and “H” of the “Journal” spreadsheet with the headings “QST” and “PROV” respectively

  • all the rows in the “Chart of Accounts" spreadsheet between:
    2680 | 2430 | QST Charged on Sales
    and
    2680 | 2435 | QST Paid on Purchases
    inclusive

• modify the 2nd argument passed to the GIFI_21_BALANCE function of cell I3 to specify the range C2:F
  e.g. GIFI_21_BALANCE(D3:E; INDIRECT("Journal!C2:F"); M3:M)

Scenario 1.1 - business not registered for GST/HST

• • delete:

    • columns “F” and “G” of the “Journal” spreadsheet with the headings “GST” and “TOTAL” respectively

    • the following rows of the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet:

      • 1066 | 1166 | GST/QST Refund

      • 2680 | 2400 | GST Charged on Sales

      • 2680 | 2405 | GST Paid on Purchases

      • 2680 | 2438 | GST/QST Owing

  • modify the 2nd argument passed to the GIFI_21_BALANCE function of cell I3 to specify the range C2:E
    e.g. GIFI_21_BALANCE(D3:E; INDIRECT("Journal!C2:E"); M3:M)

Scenario 2 - business registered with at least one provincial tax authority

The provincial sales tax used by default is controlled by the 4th argument passed to GIFI_21_BALANCE function of cell I3. This optional argument‡ can take a set of values ​​that can be combined using the BITOR operator. The combinable values are discussed in the function’s help documentation, which can be accessed by clicking on the function name on the right of the equal sign (=) inside cell I3. If this argument is only used to identify the provincial tax by default, then the BITOR operator can be omitted.
This argument can be one of the following values:

• 0 ( or no argument passed) — Quebec

• 1 — British Columbia

• 2 — Manitoba

• 3 — Saskatchewan

e.g. to set the default provincial sales tax for Manitoba: GIFI_21_BALANCE(D3:E; INDIRECT("Journal!C2:G"); M3:M; 2)

Scenario 2.1 - business registered with a single provincial tax authority

• delete:

  • column “H” of the “Journal” spreadsheet with the headings “PROV”

  • the rows in the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet between:
    2680 | 2430 | QST Charged on Sales
    and
    2680 | 2435 | QST Paid on Purchases
    which does not relate to the province specified by the 4th argument passed to the GIFI_21_BALANCE function as described previously

e.g. if only QST is supported, the following rows can be deleted: “2680 | 2431 | PST BC Charged on Sales”, “2680 | 2432 | RST MB Charged on Sales” and “2680 | 2433 | PST SK Charged on Sales”

• modify the header of column “G” of the “Journal” spreadsheet so that it matches the provincial sales tax type configured by default. The suggested headers are:

  • QST (for Quebec)

  • PST (for British Columbia or Saskatchewan)

  • RST (for Manitoba)

Scenario 2.2 - business registered with several provincial tax authorities

• delete :

  • the rows in the “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet between:
    2680 | 2430 | QST Charged on Sales
    and
    2680 | 2435 | QST Paid on Purchases
    associated with provinces where the business is not required to collect sales tax

e.g. if your business does not collect Saskatchewan sales tax, the following line can be deleted: “2680 | 2433 | PST SK Charged on Sales”

• modify

  • the 2nd argument passed to the GIFI_21_BALANCE function of cell I3 to specify the range C2:H

e.g. GIFI_21_BALANCE(D3:E; INDIRECT("Journal!C2:H"); M3:M)

so that the function can access the “PROV” column content used to override, if necessary, the default provincial sales tax on a transactional basis

• • the header of column “G” of the “Journal” spreadsheet with the province neutral “PST” label

  • the dropdown list associated with the “PROV” column for the H2:H range so that it is aligned with the list of provinces where the business is required to collect sales tax

For spreadsheets based on the “Partnership” and “Corporation” templates, discuss with a professional whether the “Other Comprehensive Income” component, which is intended for businesses that use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is required. If not, you can delete the rows belonging to this component as well as the account

• • 3580 | 35xx | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

found in the “Partners’ Capital” component for “Partnership” or “Shareholders’ Equity” for “Corporation”.

Once these operations have been completed, you must finalize the content of your chart of accounts according to the business structure and commercial activities. The GIFI_21_BALANCE function ensures the consistency of the chart of accounts at all times and will report any anomaly by returning an error message in cell I3 of the spreadsheet.

† Note that only the QST provincial sales tax can be entered separately during a purchase since it is the only one to offer an input tax refunds (ITRS).

‡ An optional argument is an argument that does not have to be specified explicitly when calling the function.

The following table indicates in which numerical range the account numbers must fall based on the associated GIFI codes.

Component Class GIFI Code Account #
Min Max Min Max

Assets † Short Term 1000 1486 1000 1375
Capital Assets 1600 1921 1400 1606
Accumulated Amortization 1602 1922 1401 1607
of Capital Assets
Intangible Assets 2010 2076 1610 1776
Accumulated Amortization 2011 2077 1611 1777
of Intangible Assets
Long Term 2180 2427 1780 1888
Held in Trust 2590 — 1890 1998

Liabilities Short Term 2600 2966 2000 2399
Long Term 3140 3328 2440 2649
Subordinated Debt 3460 3460 2651 2749
Held in Trust 3470 — 2750 2849

Capital/Equity ‡

Sole Proprietorship (pre-established accounts only) ¶

Partnership 3540 3571 3000 3499

Corporation 3500 3570 3000 3499
Retained Earnings/Deficit 3700 3745 3700 3848

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Revenue Sales of Goods and Services 8000 8053 4000 4488
Others 8090 8250 4490 4998

Expenses Cost of Sales
Opening Inventory 8300 8303 5000 5099
Costs 8320 8461 5100 5499
Closing Inventory 8500 8503 5500 5599
Operating Expenses 8520 9286 5620 5948

Farming Revenue 9370 9617 6000 6939
Non-Farming Revenues 9650 — 6940 6958

Farming Expenses 9660 9836 7000 7849
Non-Farming Expenses 9850 — 7850 7869
Net Inventory Adjustment 9870 — 7870 7897

Other Comprehensive Income 7000 7020 8000 8199

Extraordinary Items[ and Income Taxes] 9975 9995 9000 9199

† The difference between the account number of a capital asset or intangible asset item and that of its cumulative amortization must be one (1).

‡ Although the GIFI codes for “Partnership” and “Corporation” overlap, the GIFI_21_BALANCE function only allows the use of codes related to single business structure.

¶ The “Chart of Accounts” spreadsheet of the “Sole Proprietorship” template file defines all the available accounts that can be found under the “Owner’s Capital” component.

The following list enumerates the predefined items. These items are used for: 

1. establish totals or subtotals of components and account classes - unless otherwise noted, these items cannot be used in the general journal

2. calculate sales tax account balances

Total and subtotal items

• 1599 | 1399 | Total Current Assets

• 2008 | 1608 | Total Tangible Capital Assets

• 2009 | 1609 | Total Accumulated Amortization of Tangible Capital Assets

• 2178 | 1778 | Total Intangible Capital Assets

• 2179 | 1779 | Total Accumulated Amortization of Intangible Capital Assets

• 2589 | 1889 | Total Long-Term Assets

• 2599 | 1999 | Total Assets

• 3139 | 2439 | Total Current Liabilities

• 3450 | 2650 | Total Long-Term Liabilities

• 3499 | 2999 | Total Liabilities

Corporation

• • 3600 | 3600 | Retained Earnings/Deficit

  • 3620 | 3620 | Total Shareholder Equity

  • 3640 | 3640 | Total Liabilities and Shareholder Equity

Retained Earnings/Deficit

• • • 3660 | 3660 | Retained Earnings/Deficit – Start

    • 3680 | 3680 | Net Income/Loss

    • 3849 | 3849 | Retained Earnings/Deficit – End

Partnership

• • 3545 | 3545 | Undistributed Net Income (Loss) †

  • 3550 | 3550 | Distributed Net Income (Loss)

per General Partner

• • • 3551 | 3xxx | Capital Beginning Balance

    • 3552 | 3xxx | Net Income (Loss) †

    • 3560 | 3xxx | Capital Ending Balance

per Limited Partner

• • • 3561 | 3xxx | Capital Beginning Balance

    • 3562 | 3xxx | Net Income (Loss)  †

    • 3571 | 3xxx | Capital Ending Balance

  • 3580 | 3574 | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

  • 3575 | 3575 | Total Partners’ Capital

  • 3585 | 3585 | Total Liabilities And Partners’ Capital

Sole Proprietorship

• •  | 3641 | Capital Beginning Balance

  •  | 3642 | Net Income (Loss)

  •  | 3650 | Capital Ending Balance

  •  | 3659 | Total Liabilities and Owner’s Capital

• 8089 | 4489 | Total Sales of Goods and Services

• 8299 | 4999 | Total Revenue

• 8518 | 5618 | Cost of Sales

• 8519 | 5619 | Gross Profit (Loss)

• 9367 | 5967 | Total Operating Expenses

• 9368 | 5968 | Total Expenses

• 9369 | 5969 | Net Non-Farming Income

• 9659 | 6959 | Total Farm Revenue

• 9898 | 7898 | Total Farm Expenses

• 9899 | 7899 | Net Farm Income

• 9970 | 7970 | Net Income/Loss Before Taxes and Extraordinary Items

• 9998 | 9998 | Total-Other Comprehensive Income

• 9999 | 9999 

Partnership

• • • Net Income/Loss After Extraordinary Items

Corporation

• • • Net Income/Loss After Taxes and Extraordinary Items

Sales Tax Related Items

• 1066 | 1166 | GST/HST/QST Refund

• 2680 | 2400 | GST Charged on Sales

• 2680 | 2405 | GST Paid on Purchases

• 2680 | 2430 | QST Charged on Sales

• 2680 | 2431 | PST_BC Charged on Sales

• 2680 | 2432 | RST_MB Charged on Sales

• 2680 | 2433 | PST_SK Charged on Sales

• 2680 | 2435 | QST Paid on Purchases

• 2680 | 2438 | GST/HST/QST/PST_BC/RST_MB/PST_SK Owing ‡

† The system authorizes transactions between the overall Undistributed Net Income (Loss) item with account number “3545” and those specific to partners with GIFI codes “3552” or “3562” in order to distribute the net profit at the end of the financial year. These entries must be located at the end of the transaction journal. However, it is possible to authorize this type of transaction throughout the year by passing the HEX2DEC(200) flag to the “indicator” parameter of the GIFI_21_BALANCE function.

‡ PST_BC = Provincial Sales Tax - British Columbia
RST_MB = Retail Sales Tax - Manitoba
PST_SK = Provincial Sales Tax - Saskatchewan