Chart of Accounts for a Coaching Business

Viktoria Nedelcheva
3 min readOct 24, 2023

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A chart of accounts is a list of all the accounts that your coaching business uses to track its financial transactions. It provides a framework for organizing your financial information, making it easier to manage and analyze your business’s finances.

Each account in the chart of accounts is assigned a unique number or code, which helps you identify and categorize different types of transactions. For example, you might use account numbers in the 100–199 range for your revenue accounts, and numbers in the 500–599 range for your expenses.

These accounts are organized into categories and subcategories, which can help you track your income and expenses in a more organized manner. Some common categories for a chart of accounts include: revenue accounts, expense accounts, asset accounts, liability assets, and equity accounts.

Revenue accounts track the income your business generates from coaching services, workshops, or other sources.

Expense accounts track the costs associated with running your coaching business, such as rent, supplies, marketing expenses, or professional fees.

Asset accounts track the resources that your business owns, such as cash, accounts receivable, or equipment.

Liability accounts track your business’s debts or obligations, such as loans or unpaid bills.

Equity accounts track the amount of ownership that you and any other owners have in your business.

By setting up a well-organized chart of accounts for your coaching business, you can gain greater visibility into your business’s financial health and make more informed decisions about how to allocate your resources. It can also help you prepare financial reports and tax returns more efficiently and accurately.

When creating a chart of accounts for your coaching business you can follow a few simple steps:

  • The first step in creating a chart of accounts is to determine the account categories you’ll need. Before you start creating accounts, you’ll want to determine the categories of accounts that will be necessary for your business. Within each category, you can create subcategories and individual accounts that are specific to your coaching business. For example, within the expenses category, you might have subcategories for office expenses, travel expenses, and training expenses. Within the office expenses subcategory, you might have individual accounts for rent, utilities, and office supplies.It’s important to customize your chart of accounts to fit the unique needs of your coaching business. This can help you track your income and expenses more accurately, identify areas where you can reduce costs, and make informed decisions about your financial health and growth.
  • Once you’ve determined the categories of accounts you’ll need, you can start choosing account names. The names you choose should be descriptive and easy to understand. For example, under the revenue category, you might create accounts for coaching sessions, workshops, and speaking engagements.
  • After you’ve chosen account names, you can assign account numbers. This isn’t required, but it can make it easier to organize and reference your accounts. Generally, assets are assigned numbers in the 1000 to1999 range, liabilities are assigned numbers in the 2000–2999 range, equity is assigned numbers in the 3000 to 3999 range, revenue is assigned numbers in the 4000 to 4999 range, and expenses are assigned numbers in the 5000 to 9999 range.
  • The last step is to enter all accounts with their number, name and type into a list and build your chart of accounts. This can be done in a spreadsheet or accounting software. Here’s an example of what a chart of accounts for your coaching business might look like. Of course, this is just an example, and you can modify it to fit your specific business needs.

By creating a chart of accounts, you’ll have a clear and organized way to track your income and expenses. This will make it easier to create financial statements, track your cash flow, and make informed business decisions.

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Viktoria Nedelcheva

Supporting the understanding of financial figures for small businesses.