The 7 categories you mention don't correspond 1:1 to top-level
accounts you'd keep in ledger. These categories are just numberings
that you need to maintain on the various 'accounts' that you keep (I'm
not sure of the exact terms here, I think the French term is 'livre
d'inventaire'; I googled a bit and it seems like the French system is
much like the Belgian, which makes sense I guess considering that the
Belgian was probably copied from the French. My reasoning is based on
my experiences with the Belgian system.).
So anyway, I'd say you'd keep top-level accounts like this (numbers
are the categories you mentioned):
Assets 1,2,3,5
Liabilities 4
Income 7
Expenses 6
And then you'd keep sub-accounts either based on your own system, or
following the legal numbering. For the legal numbering, there is a
system in there that I don't quite remember in detail but it's
basically a hierarchical system where you could instate a new ledger
'account level' for each digit in the accounting number. So 401000
('Suppliers') then becomes
Liabilities:(not sure, I think 'trade debts'?):Suppliers
You can track this as deep as you want, I'm not sure what the legal
requirement is here.
The other option is that you keep your own accounts and translate into
the ledger numbering system at reporting time (see below), so the
account above could be something like
Liabilities:Suppliers:Supplier X
whatever makes most sense for your business. I like this system better
as it gives you flexibility to keep track of things in a way that is
relevant to your business rather than the legal framework straight
jacket.
Keeping track of the legally required numbers is a pain. I've
contemplated two options:
- using them as part of the account name. This requires a lot of
typing and many opportunities for mistakes. If you keep a proper list
though and use copy and paste to enter new entries I guess that can be
mitigated.
- doing post-processing at the reporting stage. Filter output through
some sed expressions that replace the account names with the full
ones, with the number included.
I like this second one best, if only for the ease of use. Accountants
that I know who are used to the numbered system prefer to see the
numbers always. It's a frame of mind I guess.
Will you only supply the ledger entries to your accountant? Does he
have a way to import all of it into his own systems? Be careful he
doesn't make you pay for a secretary to enter all of it back into a
computer. With a bit of scripting you can make your own balance sheet
and profit and loss statement, he'd only have to check it.
cheers,
roel
On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 3:44 PM, Benoit Chesneau <[email protected]> wrote:
> Anyone here maintaining a ledger for a small french company or
> anyone ? I would be interested how you maintain your accounts.
> Especially how you distinct the 7 classes ?
>
> 1. Capital accounts (shareholder equity);
>
> 2. Fixed assets (property, plant and equipment);
>
> 3. Stock, including raw materials, work in progress and finished
> goods;
>
> 4 ‘Third party accounts’ ( comptes tiers), which include all outside
> parties;
>
> 5. Bank and other treasury accounts.
>
> 6. Expenses.
>
> 7. Sales and other income.
>
>
> My goal is to maintain the ledger before giving results to an
> accountant.
>
> Let me know,
>
> - benoît
