Chart of Accounts¶

Chart of Accounts is the list of all your accounts, arranged in groups. It shows:

every group (Bank Accounts, Sundry Creditors, Duties & Taxes, Indirect Expenses…) and the ledgers in it,
each ledger's opening balance and closing balance,
the opening balances you started your books with,
the accounts Books uses by itself when it records a sale, a purchase or GST.

Open it from Books ▸ Accounts ▸ Chart of Accounts.

A ledger is one account: Cash, HDFC Current A/c, Rent, Kumar Packaging, Output CGST Payable. A group is a heading that ledgers sit under, so they add up correctly in your reports.

Chart of Accounts: Current Assets with Bank Accounts, Cash-in-Hand and Stock-in-Hand; Fixed Assets;
Current Liabilities with Duties & Taxes. Each ledger shows its opening and closing
balance and an Alter link.

Why it matters for filing¶

ITR. Your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet are added up group by group. A ledger in the wrong group puts its amount in the wrong place: rent filed under Fixed Assets would make your profit look higher.
GST. GST you collect and GST credit you claim sit in Duties & Taxes. GST on items the law does not allow you to claim (food for staff, for example) must be marked so it counts as cost, not credit.
Opening balances. If they are wrong, your Balance Sheet is wrong from the first day.

The groups¶

Books gives every restaurant 28 standard groups. You cannot rename or move them, but you can add your own groups under them.

Primary group	Sub-groups	Used for
Capital Account	Reserves & Surplus	Money the owner put in; profit kept in the business
Loans (Liability)	Bank OD A/c, Secured Loans, Unsecured Loans	Money borrowed
Current Liabilities	Duties & Taxes, Provisions, Sundry Creditors	GST and TDS payable; suppliers you owe
Fixed Assets		Kitchen equipment, furniture
Investments		Fixed deposits and other investments
Current Assets	Bank Accounts, Cash-in-Hand, Deposits (Asset), Loans & Advances (Asset), Stock-in-Hand, Sundry Debtors	Money you have or are owed; GST input credit is shown under Duties & Taxes
Misc. Expenses (ASSET), Suspense A/c, Branch/Divisions		Rarely used by restaurants
Sales Accounts		Your sales
Purchase Accounts		Raw material and stock you buy
Direct Expenses, Direct Incomes		Costs and income directly tied to what you sell
Indirect Expenses		Rent, wages, electricity, repairs, round off
Indirect Incomes		Other income, such as interest

Sundry Creditors are your suppliers: each supplier has its own ledger here. Duties & Taxes holds Output CGST and SGST Payable (GST you collected), Input CGST, SGST and IGST Credit (GST you can claim), TDS Payable and GST Payable on Reverse Charge.

What each part of the screen shows¶

The three tabs: Groups and ledgers, Opening balances, Accounts Books uses automatically, with Search
ledgers, + Group and + Ledger on the right.

Groups and ledgers¶

The tree of groups and ledgers. Click the arrow beside a group to open or close it. Search ledgers finds a ledger by name. Each row shows:

Column	What it means
Opening	The ledger's balance on the day your books start.
Closing balance	The balance today for the financial year, with Dr or Cr. For a group, the total of its ledgers.

Click a ledger's name to open its Ledger. Select Alter to change it.

Adding or changing a group¶

+ Group asks for a Name and Under, the group it sits in. Alter on a group you made lets you rename or move it. The standard groups cannot be changed.

Adding or changing a ledger¶

+ Ledger and Alter on a ledger open the same panel beside the list:

The Alter ledger panel for Rent: Name, Under Indirect Expenses, Opening balance (on
01-04-2025) 0.00 Dr, GST details with Is ineligible for input credit Yes / No, Not in use, Save, Close and
Delete.

Field	What to enter
Name	The ledger's name, for example Electricity Charges.
Under	The group. Choose carefully: this decides where it shows in your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet.
Opening balance and Dr / Cr	The balance on the day your books start, and which side.
Is ineligible for input credit	Yes for an expense whose GST the law does not let you claim. See below.
Not in use	Hides a ledger you no longer use from the lists. Turn it off to use the ledger again.

Delete removes a ledger only if it has no vouchers, no opening balance, and Books does not use it by itself. Otherwise the panel tells you why it cannot be deleted.

Is ineligible for input credit¶

This setting is for blocked credit. GST law (CGST Act, section 17(5)) does not let a business claim GST paid on some things, for example:

food and drinks for staff,
motor vehicles,
building repairs that become part of the building.

Mark the ledger once: Is ineligible for input credit: Yes. From then on, the GST on every purchase bill or expense booked to that ledger is added to the cost. It is not counted as GST credit in your GSTR-3B.

Your outlet	GST on purchases	What this setting changes
5% restaurant (no ITC)	Always a cost	Nothing: you cannot claim any GST credit
18% restaurant (specified premises, with ITC)	Credit you can claim	Makes the GST on this ledger a cost instead

Opening balances¶

What each ledger held on the day you started your books in KJB: cash in hand, money in each bank, what you owed each supplier, the value of equipment, the capital you put in. Open it from the Opening balances link; ← Chart of Accounts takes you back.

Opening balances as on 01-04-2025: each ledger with the group it is under, an amount box and a Dr/Cr
choice, with a Group filter and Print.

For each ledger enter the amount and choose Dr or Cr:

Ledger	Usually
Cash, bank, equipment, GST input credit	Dr
Suppliers you owe, loans, owner's capital, GST payable	Cr

The page shows Total Debit, Total Credit and the Difference in opening balances. The two totals should match. When they do not, the difference is shown on your Balance Sheet as Difference in opening balances until you add the ledger that is missing, often a loan or the owner's capital. Select Save opening balances when done. Print prints the list.

Accounts Books uses automatically¶

When Books records a sale, a purchase bill, GST, a cash short or excess, or a round off, it needs to know which ledger to use. This page lists each one with its ledger:

Accounts Books uses automatically: Used for Cash, Sales, Output CGST, Output SGST, Input CGST, Input
SGST, Round Off, Cash Short / Excess and Card payments to be received, each with a ledger to choose, and a
count of how many are still to choose.

Line	Ledger it uses
Cash	Cash
Sales	Sales
Purchases	Purchase
Output CGST, Output SGST	Output CGST Payable, Output SGST Payable
Input CGST, Input SGST, Input IGST	Input CGST Credit, Input SGST Credit, Input IGST Credit
TDS Payable	TDS Payable
GST Payable on Reverse Charge	GST Payable on Reverse Charge
Round Off	Round Off
Cash Short / Excess	Cash Short / Excess
Card payments to be received	Card Payments Receivable
Reserves & Surplus	Retained Earnings
Sundry Creditors group	Sundry Creditors (where new supplier ledgers are made)

Change a line only if your accountant asks you to. Select Save after a change.

What to do when something needs attention¶

You see	What it means	What to do
A ledger's closing balance is on the wrong side	A voucher may be in the wrong ledger, or the opening balance has the wrong Dr/Cr.	Open the ledger and check its vouchers; check its opening balance.
Difference in opening balances is not zero	Your opening balances do not add up.	Add the missing ledger (a loan, capital) or correct a Dr/Cr.
Delete is refused	The ledger has vouchers or an opening balance, or Books uses it.	Leave it. A ledger with vouchers cannot be deleted.
Day Summary says a sale cannot be recorded because a ledger is not linked	A line under Accounts Books uses automatically has no ledger.	Choose the ledger on that line and save.
GST credit looks too high	An expense that is blocked by law is not marked.	Set Is ineligible for input credit: Yes on that ledger.