Defined with up to four positions, the term “entity” identifies a legal financial unit of a company. This unit of the company normally publishes separate financial reports and files separate tax returns.

Defined with up to eight positions, the term “account” identifies types of financial holdings and obligations. When accounts are entered into the system, they must be defined as either an asset, expense, income, liability, memo, or statistical account type. They are also associated to format positions that define how these accounts will be presented on the financial reports.

Sub-accounts are used to develop more detailed financial information within an account code. For example, sub-accounts might be used to break inventory accounts down by type of inventory—raw material and finished goods. Or they might be used to break inventory out by product line. All financial reports can be selected and sorted by sub-account.

Defined with up to four positions, cost centers are typically used to track departmental expenses. They are usually departments or groups that incur expenses and might or might not generate revenue. Cost centers provide additional detail on GL reports. They can also be used to subdivide accounts by product line (such as sales or WIP).

Defined with up to eight positions, project codes are used to track activity that is not part of the normal routine. Examples of what you can track with project codes include new product development and engineering, capital improvement activities, or marketing promotional activities. Often, a characteristic of these activities is that they will cross organizational boundaries and be comprised of a variety of cost types. The project codes allow you to track costs across these boundaries. Project codes can be entered on all GL, sales, AR, purchasing, AP, and manufacturing transactions. Project amounts do not appear itemized on financial statements, but can be reviewed on special project activity reports.

On inquiries and reports, the system separates accounts, sub-accounts, and cost centers by dashes. For example, account 2100, sub-account 10, and cost center 1000 appears as 2100-10-1000. If there were no sub-account, you would only see 2100--1000.