The Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online

The Chart of Accounts, run as a report, is the full list of the accounts your books are built on. QuickBooks calls this report the Account List, and it shows the accounts in your chart of accounts, with each account's type, detail type, and, for balance-sheet accounts, its current balance. Everything else in your books is organized under these accounts, so this list is the framework the General Ledger, the Trial Balance, and your financial statements are all built on.

What the Chart of Accounts shows

Each row is one account: its name, its account type (bank, accounts receivable, income, expense, and so on), its detail type, and, for balance-sheet accounts, the balance carried in that account. If you have turned on account numbers, those appear too. Read as a whole, the list is the map of how your books are structured: which accounts exist, how they are grouped, and where transactions post. That structure is what gives every other report its shape.

A list, not a basis report

Because it describes how your accounts are set up rather than tallying transactions, the Chart of Accounts does not change with the accounting method, and there is no cash-versus-accrual version. It reflects your account structure as it stands on the day you run it. QuickBooks' own Export Data tool bundles core lists like this one, along with the customer and vendor lists, into a single export, and the Chart of Accounts is part of your Books Backup archive by default.

Why a CPA or auditor asks for it

It is the reference that makes the rest of your books legible. A CPA reads the Chart of Accounts to see how income and expenses are categorized, whether accounts are set to the right type, and where a given figure belongs. The account list is also what ties the detailed reports together: the General Ledger groups its entries under these accounts, and the Trial Balance lists each of them with its balance. If you ever move to different accounting software, the chart of accounts is usually the first thing you rebuild, so having it documented saves reconstructing the structure by hand.

How to run and export the Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online

1. Go to the Reports menu and type "Account List" into the report search box, then open it. You can also view the accounts from the settings menu under Chart of accounts.
2. There is no report period or accounting method to set, because the list reflects your current account structure rather than a range of transactions.
3. Use the export control at the top of the report to export it to Excel or PDF. The file downloads to your computer.
4. If you are pulling several lists at once, the Export Data tool can export the chart of accounts together with your other lists in one step.

The spreadsheet export is usually the more useful one to keep, because it holds the account names, types, and numbers in columns you can reference or reuse when rebuilding or importing the list later. Our guide to exporting all your data from QuickBooks covers how this list fits with the reports and attachments worth keeping.

Keeping the Chart of Accounts after you cancel

The Chart of Accounts is part of your Books Backup archive. It is worth keeping because a cancelled paid QuickBooks Online company stays read-only for 12 months and is then permanently deleted, a trial only 90 days, and the IRS generally expects business records to be kept for at least three years, and longer in some situations. Once the company is gone, the account structure goes with it, and it is the reference that lets you make sense of the ledger and statements you kept.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Chart of Accounts the same as the Trial Balance?

No. The Chart of Accounts lists every account with its type and structure, while the Trial Balance lists each account with its debit or credit balance as of a date, and its columns must tie out. The chart tells you what the accounts are; the trial balance tells you where each one stands.

Does it change with cash or accrual basis?

No. It is a list of how your accounts are set up, not a tally of transactions, so the accounting method does not change it. It reflects your account structure on the day you run it.

Can I export the Chart of Accounts myself before I cancel?

Yes. You can export it from the report or from the Export Data tool, which bundles it with your other lists. The Excel version is the easier one to keep, since it holds the account names, types, and numbers in columns you can reuse.