How Fathom structures the group’s Chart of Accounts

In your consolidated group’s Settings, 'Step 3 - Chart of Accounts' allows you to customise the group Chart of Accounts.

Fathom merges accounts from underlying entities in the consolidated Chart of Accounts if the accounts have the same name and the same classification. Account codes do not influence the merging or consolidation of accounts in the consolidated group.

Fathom also does not automatically copy the structure of the consolidated Chart of Accounts from the underlying entities; however, you can prompt Fathom to copy the Chart of Accounts from an underlying entity. As long as the Charts of Accounts are relatively similar for the consolidated group and the underlying company, you can use Fathom's 'Copy Settings' feature to copy over the Chart of Accounts structure.

You can learn more about that process in our ‘Can I copy settings between companies and groups?’ article.

Once you have created your Chart of Accounts structure, Fathom will retain it during updates to the group.

💡Pro Tip: Any consolidated account consisting solely of archived accounts in the underlying entities will be an archived account in the consolidated group.

Customising the Consolidated Chart of Accounts

You’re able to customise your consolidated Chart of Accounts in three main ways:

Using headings and subheadings to group accounts
Reordering your accounts
Using account codes or alphabetical order to structure your accounts

💡Pro Tip: If you need to change the terms used in the group's Chart of Accounts, you can change the group's terminology. You can create a custom terminology if you have specific industry, regional, or organisational reporting standards (e.g., nonprofit, GAAP, etc.). Please see our 'Custom Terminology' article to learn about the terminologies available and the custom terminology creation process.

Headings and Subheadings in a Consolidated Group

You can restructure your accounts by creating headings and subheadings. These headings will aggregate the accounts under the heading and allow you to view different levels of detail when using the analysis, reporting, and forecasting tools.

To create headings or subheadings:

Hover over an account you would like to include in the heading or subheading
Select the checkbox that appears next to the account name
Add a checkmark to the checkbox for every account you want included under the heading or subheading
An option to 'Create Heading' will appear. Select it.
Type the name of the heading or subheading and select ‘Apply’
Save the changes you made to the chart of accounts by selecting ‘Save Changes’ in the upper right corner

❗Notice: We recommend saving after every 10-20 actions in the Chart of Accounts to ensure changes are saved.

We suggest using unique names within your heading structure as this will make it easier to reference the headings from your formula KPIs.

View our dedicated support article for more information on creating and using headings.

Reorder your accounts

To reorder your accounts, drag the account to a different location within the same classification.

❗ Notice: You cannot reclassify accounts in the consolidated group Settings. This can be done in the underlying companies’ Settings, i 'Step 3 - Chart of Accounts'. Please note that Fathom will only consolidate accounts that have the same name and classification.

Account Numbers & Codes and Alphabetising

If account numbers (or codes) have been defined in the entities underpinning a consolidated group, then they will also appear in the consolidated group, but only if they are the same in every company.

Let’s take the example of one entity with an account named ‘Rent’ and an account number of ‘3200’ and another entity that has an account with the same name, ‘Rent’, but an account code of ‘3300’. Providing they are both classified as a fixed expense, the consolidated group will have a single line with the name ‘Rent’, but a blank account number. Fathom was able to group these accounts, but could not determine a unique account number.

You’re able to reorder your Chart of Accounts by account code or by alphabetical order.

To do so,

In the upper right corner of the consolidated chart of accounts, select the ‘Three Stacked Lines with Dots’ icon
In the ‘Reorder’ accounts section of the menu that opens, select the down arrow to reveal the options
Select to reorder by ‘Account Code’ or by ‘Alphabetical’ order

❗Notice: We recommend saving after every 10-20 actions in the Chart of Accounts to ensure changes are saved.

This will order the accounts within each classification according to the account code or alphabetical order, depending on the selected option.

📝 Note: Account codes will not automatically be shown in a custom Fathom report if this option is checked in 'Step 3 - Chart of Accounts'. They will only be displayed when you check the 'Show account codes' option for a financial statement or Excel report.

Eliminations

In the 'Chart of Accounts' Settings, you can configure eliminations. For more information please see our article on eliminations in a consolidated group.

Next steps

Congratulations on setting up and organising your consolidated Chart of Accounts! Any decisions you made in your Chart of Accounts in Fathom can be changed later on if needed. Finish setting up your consolidated group for analysis, reporting, and forecasting by choosing from one of the next steps below:

What you want to do:	Next step in the setup process:
Need to make some eliminations to balance your group or take into account intercompany transactions?	Make Eliminations in a Consolidation
Happy with your Chart of Accounts organisation and ready to set up KPIs?	Consolidate KPIs
Happy with your chosen KPIs and ready to set targets for your consolidated group?	Set Targets in a Consolidation