Overview: Both Active Workpapers and Active Ledger connect to source accounting platforms (like Xero, MYOB, QBO) to import account codes. For firms wishing to standardise their own chart of account codes, this guide outlines how to configure your Active Ledger and Active Workpapers modules to support a firm-specific Chart of accounts with firm standard account codes.
Standardising Account Codes in Active Workpapers
While Active Workpapers supports custom account structures, it requires some upfront configuration and relies on the use of header accounts.
Create a Standard Chart
Navigate to:
Admin Centre > Workpapers Admin > Standard Chart
Standard Chart SetupHere, you can create and define your firm’s standard account codes as standard headers based on different entity types.
Create standard headers using the three dots as shown above to represent your custom account structure. To build a multi-tiered chart, simply add additional headers beneath existing ones.
Mark any essential accounts as ‘Mandatory’. This ensures they will be imported into binders by default.
Note: For more information please see the help article below:
How to create a standard chart of accounts
Set Up Matching Rules
Navigate to:
Admin Centre > Workpapers Admin > Matching Rules
Matching Rules SetupCreate rules that automatically map source accounts from accounting software (e.g., Xero, MYOB, QBO) to your firm’s standard headers/account codes.
If an imported account doesn't match a rule, it will still appear in the Trial Balance and can be manually assigned to the correct header via the Accounts screen in a binder.
In the Trial Balance screen, the final product it will look like this when expanded:
and like this when collapsed:
Standardising Account Codes in Active Ledger and Reporting
Creating your own firm account codes is easier in Active Ledger as you can set up standard accounts in your Master Chart.
Setting Up Your Master Chart
Navigate to:
Admin Centre > Ledger Admin > Standard Chart > Add Standard AccountDefine your firm's account codes as part of your Master Chart of Accounts. Active Ledger offers more flexibility where you can create both standard headers and standard accounts for different entity types.
Note: For more information please see the help article below:
Managing the standard chart of accounts
Mapping Source Accounts
Set up matching rules in:
Admin Centre > Ledger Admin > Matching RulesThese rules will automatically map source accounts from your client’s accounting files to your firm’s standard accounts.
You can also manually map source accounts within the accounts screen of an Active Ledger file to your standard accounts set up in your Master Chart.
Here’s an example of source accounts from multiple accounting files being grouped under a firm-defined standard account:
Note: If your standard header or standard account does not show in your existing Ledger file's Chart of accounts, please use the Recommendations view to accept them in.
For standard accounts, ensure that a source account is already allocated on the left side and available to link with the standard account when its criteria are met.
Integration with Active Workpapers
Your Active Ledger file can then serve as a source for your Active Workpapers binder, importing your firm’s master chart of accounts along with the underlying balances from the source accounting files. It also supports importing consolidated balances from multiple source files into your firm's standard account code, as shown above.
Here’s what the final product will look like — much cleaner and more streamlined:
Maintaining an Excel Trial Balance Template
For convenience, as an alternative, you can also maintain an Excel Trial Balance Template with Firm account codes and reuse that to import a trial balance into any of the Active products for every job.
Please see the help articles below:
Active Workpapers - How to import a trial balance using Excel
Active Ledger - How to import a trial balance in a dataset using Excel