Thanks for your input. Truth is I'm hoping to simply establish a chart of accounts, more or less, as we are trying to make sense of the accounting practices that have been in place here (I'm told) since the early 20th century. I don't plan on doing anything rash, like start a land war in Asia, but I would like to see how other folks handle their accounting so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Pity I can't fit another disassociated metaphor in here. --suzanne -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of jerry symonds Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 6:56 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] chart of accounts Hi Suzanne, I work as an Accountant/Internal Auditor for a heritage organisation in the UK. Echoing Dan's posting and your reply, I would approach any updating of your chart of accounts with extreme caution: it could end you up in a whole load of trouble! I personally don't see any intrinsic difference in requirements between this century and the back end of the last and the more you play around with categories the more you lose the benefit of comparatives and who wants to churn through prior years doing re-statements, unless legally required to do so, as a result of a change in legal reporting requirements? Using different categories for budgeting than for accounting sounds like a recipe for disaster, I agree with you, Dan! I'm therefore pretty worried that you say that "organizations frequently use different categories for budgeting than they do for accounting" : that's not my experience this side of the pond, anyway... I think it's worth distinguishing in this discussion between "core" and "one off" codes: your core codes should be kept as consistent year on year as possible. For projects or activities of finite duration however, it may well be worth setting up one off codes and those will be unique to each organisation: however the trade off is that the more codes you have, the more complex your analysis becomes, so tread with caution! However, if the nature of your organisation's activities has changed radically and your chart of accounts has not kept pace with that, then I could see that as a good reason for revisiting them... Hope that's some help. Kind Regards, Jerry Symonds - Senior Internal Auditor Historic Royal Palaces Surrey England Echoing ----- Original Message ----- From: "HHSDIRECTOR" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 11:03 PM Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] chart of accounts > Thanks. We're proceeding with caution, which is why we're hoping for other > standards of comparison. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf > Of Dan Prives > Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 4:28 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] chart of accounts > > Since one of the functions of the chart of accounts is to provide > consistency in financial presentations over time, the idea of updating > a chart of accounts is somewhat problematic. It needs to be > approached with some care. > > The process should include a restatement of prior years' financial > results using the new chart, going back as far as the organization > ususally does for planning purposes (say, three to five years). > > I've also found that organizations frequently use different categories > for budgeting than they do for accounting. If this is the case, how > the new accounts relate to existing budget categories is another area > that will need to be addressed. > > Regards, > Dan Prives > Where Most Needed > The Charity Industry Blog > http://www.wheremostneeded.org > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message > to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" > (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.2/1388 - Release Date: 20/04/2008 15:01 > > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).