How Does ESC's Chart of Accounts Interact with your accounting package?

Among the many default settings ESC comes with, you'll find several accounts entered into the Chart of Accounts for you.  If ESC will be running on its own, without any accounting features or integrations, you won't need to pay much attention to the built-in accounts.  

If you decide to integrate your database with either QuickBooks or Sage 50, these accounts will play an important role in the transfer of revenue between the two programs.  

How Are The Accounts Linked?

The integration between ESC and QuickBooks or Sage 50 is initiated by the Connection Wizard.  The Connection Wizard walks you through connecting to your accounting database and then provides you with a list of unmatched accounts from both programs.  

To match an account from one program to an account in the other program, you'll highlight both accounts and then click the Match button.  To add an account from one program to another, you'll click the Add Account... option instead.

ESC maintains the link between the accounts using the name of the account in the accounting program.  This means that you can change the number of the account without affecting the link between the programs.  However, if you change the name of the account, you'll need to run through the Connection Wizard again to rematch the accounts.  

How Do I Sever The Link Between Accounts?

If an account in your accounting program has the exact same name as an account in ESC, the wizard will match them automatically for you and those accounts will not appear in the list to be matched or added.  If you don't want those accounts matched, you'll need to change the name of the account in your accounting system. 

You may also manually sever the link between accounts in ESC.

1. Go to Company → Enter Chart of Accounts.
2. Double-click on the account you wish to disconnect from your accounting system.
3. Click the Detach button.
4. Click OK when the system asks you to confirm.
5. Go to File → QuickBooks/Peachtree Connection Wizard.
6. Click Next until you reach the Match Chart of Accounts section.
7. Rematch or add the detached ESC account to your accounting program.
8. Click Exit.

What Does Each Account Do?

• Undeposited Funds - The undeposited funds account acts like a clearing house for incoming payments. Payments are temporarily debited to this account when they are first made. They are then routed to desired account and removed from this list when a deposit is made.
• The Undeposited Funds account is used as a default account on most of ESC's default Payment Methods.
• Accounts Receivable - This account will keep a running balance of money owed to you by customers.  The Accounts Receivable account cannot be directly targeted as an Income or Cost account.
• Inventory - This field is used to set the default general ledger account that will be debited for the cost of a part when it is purchased and credited when it is sold.  This default can be overridden by changing the inventory account on individual inventory items.
• The Inventory account is the default Cost Credit account on your Material Billing Code (MAT).
• Accounts Payable - This account keeps a running balance of all money owed to vendors by your company.  The Accounts Payable account cannot be used as an Income or Cost account for individual items.
• Sales Tax Payable - 
• Sales - Your primary income account for all invoices.
• Trade Discounts - The Trade Discounts account was originally intended for recording discounts and rebates provided to you by vendors.  This account is no longer used in current versions of ESC.
• Cost of Goods Sold - This account is your primary account for all costs in ESC.  This includes any miscellaneous materials being accounted for by Billing Codes, Inventory items and other costs being covered by the sale of items.
• Cost of Sales - Labor - While Labor costs don't actually transfer to your accounting system (labor costs actually come from payroll), the Cost of Sales - Labor account gives you the ability to track labor costs that don't come from payroll, such as sub-contractors and temporary employees.  
• Late Charges - When monthly statements are run in Receivables, late charges are computed on overdue invoices.  These late charges are journalized with a debit to Receivables and a credit to the account 'Late Charges'.