Chart of Accounts Generator

Why a well-structured chart of accounts matters

A chart of accounts (COA) is the foundational building block of any accounting system — the complete, numbered list of every account a business uses to record financial transactions, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. Getting the structure right from day one saves significant rework later. A poorly designed COA forces manual workarounds, produces financial reports that are difficult to interpret, and makes BAS preparation far more error-prone than it needs to be. In Australia, the COA must be compatible with the reporting requirements of the AASB and, for GST-registered businesses, must support correct tax code allocation for each account so that BAS figures are calculated accurately.

Different industries require fundamentally different account structures. A construction company needs progress claims, retentions receivable, variation revenue, and subcontractor cost accounts. A SaaS business needs monthly recurring revenue (MRR), deferred revenue, and capitalised software development costs. A medical practice must separate Medicare revenue (GST-free) from private patient fees (also typically GST-free) from any ancillary services that may be taxable — getting the tax codes wrong creates BAS errors and ATO exposure. This generator provides 13 industry-specific templates to give you the right starting point for your sector.

A common mistake is creating too many accounts — adding a new account every time a slightly different type of expense arises — which leads to a COA with hundreds of accounts that becomes impossible to manage. The discipline is to create accounts at the level of granularity that is useful for decision-making and tax reporting, and no more. If you wouldn't look at an account separately when reviewing a P&L, it probably shouldn't be its own account.

How to use this generator

1. Select your industry from the dropdown — the generator will load a pre-populated template with accounts specific to your sector, including standard Australian account codes and recommended GST tax codes.
2. Review and customise the accounts: add accounts your business needs, remove accounts that don't apply, and adjust account names and codes to match your preferences.
3. Check the tax code assigned to each account — particularly revenue accounts (are they GST, GST Free, or Input Taxed?) and expense accounts (GST or BAS Excluded for wages and super).
4. Download as PDF to share with your bookkeeper, accountant, or use as a reference when setting up Xero or MYOB.

How do COA decisions affect BAS and tax?

Every coding decision in your COA has downstream effects on your BAS and tax return. The tax code assigned to an account in Xero or MYOB flows through to every transaction coded to that account, determining how GST is calculated and reported. If a GST-free revenue account (e.g. export sales) is incorrectly set to the standard GST tax code, the system will over-report GST collected on your BAS, and you will remit more GST to the ATO than you should. Conversely, if a GST-applicable expense account is coded as BAS Excluded, you will miss input tax credits you are entitled to claim. The COA is where these decisions are made — getting them right here prevents systematic BAS errors downstream.

What is the standard Australian account numbering convention?

Australian accounting software convention uses a four-digit numbering system: 1xxx for assets, 2xxx for liabilities, 3xxx for equity, 4xxx for revenue, 5xxx for cost of goods sold (COGS), 6xxx for operating expenses, 7xxx for other income, and 8xxx for other expenses or tax. This structure is intuitive, consistent with most Australian accountant and bookkeeper expectations, and makes sorting and filtering accounts straightforward. Leave gaps in the numbering — use 6100, 6110, 6120 rather than 6100, 6101, 6102 — so you can insert new accounts later without disrupting the existing sequence.

How do I import my chart of accounts into Xero or MYOB?

In Xero, navigate to Accounting > Chart of Accounts > Import, and upload a CSV file with columns: Code, Name, Type, Tax Type. Xero uses its own account type classifications (BANK, CURRENT, FIXED, EQUITY, REVENUE, DIRECTCOSTS, OVERHEADS, DEPRECIATN, etc.) — your accountant can help map the standard types to Xero's required format. In MYOB AccountRight, use File > Import Data > Accounts to import a tab-delimited file. MYOB uses its own account classification system which differs from Xero's. Before importing, always back up your existing chart of accounts and test the import in a non-production file if possible.