Consolidated Chart of Accounts

Step 3 - Customize a consolidated group’s Chart of Accounts by adding headings, structure, and hierarchy

Shale Heidinger avatar
Written by Shale Heidinger
Updated over a week ago

Contents:


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 account that is formed solely from 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:


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:

  1. Hover over an account you would like to include in the heading or subheading

  2. Select the checkbox that appears next to the account name

  3. Add a checkmark to the checkbox for every account you want included under the heading or subheading

  4. An option to 'Create Heading' will appear. Select it.

  5. Type the name of the heading or subheading and select ‘Apply’

  6. Save the changes you made to the chart of accounts by selecting ‘Save Changes’ in the upper right corner

💡Pro Tip: To ensure you’re able to save the changes you make to the consolidated chart of accounts, we recommend you make less than 20 changes between saves.

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.

❗ Note: You are unable to 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 which 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,

  1. In the upper right corner of the consolidated chart of accounts, select the ‘Three Stacked Lines with Dots’ icon

  2. In the ‘Reorder’ accounts section of the menu that opens, select the down arrow to reveal the options

  3. Select to reorder by ‘Account Code’ or by ‘Alphabetical’

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

💡Pro Tip: The account numbers will appear next to the account name when you run the excel consolidation report.


Eliminations

In the 'Chart of Accounts' Settings screen 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 setup process:

Need to make some eliminations to balance your group or take into account intercompany transactions?

Happy with your Chart of Accounts organisation and ready to set up KPIs?

Happy with your chosen KPIs and ready to set targets for your consolidated group?


Additional knowledge & common questions:

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