Table of Contents
Overview
The Special Account Type and Control Account Type fields form part of the Nominal Account setup. These fields enhance the precision of account classification by defining the specific roles or behaviours that accounts have within financial processes.
Special Account Type applies to Regular accounts.
Control Account Type applies to Control accounts.
Depending on the selected Category (e.g. Current Asset) and Account Type (e.g. Regular), the available options in the Special Account Type, or Control Account Type, will change automatically.
Available Combinations
The tables below show all the possible combinations for Category, Account Type and Special or Control Account Type values. For easier reference, we've split them into two tables, one for combos with a Regular account type and one for those with a Control account type—click on the arrows in the subtitles to expand and see the tables.
Regular Account Type Combos
Regular Account Type Combos
Category | Account Type | Special Account Type |
Assets, Liabilities, Equity Note: Both 'Current' and 'Non Current' |
Regular |
More details ➡️ here |
Income
|
Regular |
More details ➡️ here |
Expenses |
Regular |
More details ➡️ here |
Account Types Breakdown
Below you can find detailed definitions of the Special and Control Account Type values, along with how the system behaves for each entry.
Regular: Assets, Liabilities, Equity Accounts
Regular: Assets, Liabilities, Equity Accounts
Special Account Type | Description | System Behaviour | Notes |
None | No special categorisation | - | - |
Bank | This is a regular bank account. | Only accounts whose special type is set to 'Bank' are selectable in Bank Journals, or when setting up a default bank account for a business. | Available Reconciliation Type values: None (the account won't be reconciled), Bank (default value) |
Cash | This account keeps track of the actual cash a business has on hand (e.g. petty cash) for small, everyday transactions. | Only accounts whose special type is set to 'Cash' are selectable in Cash Journals. |
- |
Annual VAT Account | It tracks VAT payable or receivable on an annual basis. | The system will maintain the transactions of all your VAT Returns. | The system allows only one instance of this account. |
Set Off | This account cancels out mutual debts between two parties by subtracting one from the other, so only the remaining balance is paid. |
- | The system allows only one instance of this account. |
Retained Earnings | This account holds accumulated profits or losses from previous years. |
- | The system allows only one instance of this account. |
Current Year Earnings | This account temporarily holds the net profit or loss for the current fiscal year before closing. | You can't post directly into this account. | The system allows only one instance of this account. |
Journal Auto Balancing | This account hosts automatically balanced journal entries for unmatched debits and credits. | You can't post directly into this account. | The system allows only one instance of this account. |
Control: Assets, Liabilities, Equity Accounts
Control: Assets, Liabilities, Equity Accounts
The values for the Control Account Type change depending on the chosen Category (Assets, Liabilities, Equity).
Category | Control Account Type | Description |
Asset | None Sales
Stock | No special categorisation
A master account with an overview of your customers' balances (e.g. Accounts Receivable).
This account tracks the value of inventory your business holds (e.g. Raw materials, work-in-progress, or finished goods). |
Liabilities | None Purchase
VAT | No special categorisation
A master account with an overview of your suppliers' balances (e.g. Accounts Payable).
This account tracks all VAT liabilities (e.g. the VAT portion of your journals, or posted invoices) across your accounts. |
Equity | None | No special categorisation. |
Regular: Income (Operating & Other Income)
Regular: Income (Operating & Other Income)
Special Account Type | Description | System Behaviour |
None | No special categorisation. | - |
Discount | This account tracks discounts given on recurring income (e.g. Loyalty discounts, early payment discounts etc.). | In the Company Settings, you can only select an account whose Special Account type is 'Discount' to be the default sales discount account. |
Gain/Loss | This account tracks gains or losses from both operating and non-operating income activities (e.g. exchange rate differences, investment income etc.). |
- |
Regular: Expense (Operating & Other Expense)
Regular: Expense (Operating & Other Expense)
Special Account Type | Description | System Behaviour |
None | No special categorisation. | - |
Discount | This account tracks reductions in expenses (like inventory or services) due, for example, to early payment or bulk buying from your suppliers. | In the Company Settings, you can only select an account whose Special Account type is 'Discount' to be the default purchase discount account. |
Gain/Loss | This account tracks gains or losses from both operating and non-operating expense activities (e.g. refunds from suppliers). |
- |
Bank Charge | This account records fees charged by banks (e.g. transaction fees, service charges). |
- |
🤔 Remember: The Special or Control Account Type value cannot be amended if there are transactions posted in the account.
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