Every business unit needs its own financial records: the G/L accounts transactions post to, the bank accounts non-card payments deposit into, and the optional departments and accounting projects you use to report revenue by dimension. When you save a G/L account, department, or accounting project, its code becomes part of the record’s permanent identifier. For bank accounts, the ID is the permanent identifier.
What It Controls
This setup creates a business unit’s chart of accounts and reporting dimensions. G/L accounts are used for every transaction posting and report. Bank accounts tell Rhythm which G/L account should hold each bank deposit. Departments and accounting projects are optional dimensions you assign in a product’s financial setup, so you can report revenue by department or by project, such as a grant or campaign. Subledger entries carry the department alongside the G/L account and project. Subledger queries show department as its own field, and the Subledger Entries report groups results by department, then project, then G/L account.
Where to Find It
| Record | Path |
|---|---|
| G/L Accounts | Finance & Billing › Setup › G/L Accounts |
| Bank Accounts | Finance & Billing › Setup › Bank Accounts |
| Departments | Finance & Billing › Setup › Departments |
| Accounting Projects | Finance & Billing › Setup › Accounting Projects |
Each list has a Create button. Each row also has Edit and Clone icons.
The Settings
G/L Accounts
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit | A business unit | — | The set of books this account belongs to. You can’t change it after you create the account |
| Code: | Text without a colon | Blank | The account code. Rhythm changes it to uppercase when you save, then combines it with the business unit to create the account’s permanent identifier, such as FAA-4000. You can’t change it after you create the account. Rhythm refuses codes with colons, so you can’t enter a QuickBooks-style parent:child account string exactly as it appears in QuickBooks. Use a dash or another separator instead |
| Name: | Any text | Blank | The account name |
| Currency | A currency the business unit supports | — | The account currency |
| Type | One of 14 types (for example Accounts Receivable, Cash, Income, Expenses, Fixed Assets) | Income | The account classification |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Whether the account is available for new use |
Bank Accounts
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit | A business unit | — | The set of books this bank account belongs to. You can’t change it after you create the bank account |
| ID: | Text beginning with the business unit's identifier | Blank | The bank account’s permanent identifier. You can’t change it after you create the bank account |
| Name: | Any text | Blank | The bank account name |
| G/L Account: | A G/L account of the business unit | — | The G/L account that holds this bank account’s balance in the ledger, including any refund that comes back through this bank account. If that G/L account is your undeposited-funds account, refunds against payments in this bank account post there too |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Whether the account is available for new use |
Departments
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit | A business unit | — | The set of books this department belongs to. You can’t change it after you create the department |
| Code: | Any text | Blank | Rhythm combines this code with the business unit to create the department’s permanent identifier. You can’t change it after you create the department |
| Name: | Any text | Blank | The department name and the label products can assign |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Whether the department is available for new use |
Creating departments one at a time from this list is the self-service path. There is no self-service bulk import for departments. If you need to create many departments at once, ask Rhythm to import them for you.
Accounting Projects
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit | A business unit | — | The set of books this project belongs to. You can’t change it after you create the project |
| Code: | Any text | Blank | Rhythm combines this code with the business unit to create the project’s permanent identifier. You can’t change it after you create the project |
| Name: | Any text | Blank | The project name and the label products can assign |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Whether the project is available for new use |
If you rename an accounting project, downstream dropdowns can keep showing the old display label for a while because that label is recalculated only in some circumstances. If a project’s new name does not appear where you expect it, open the project, edit its name, and save again. If the label still does not refresh, temporarily change the name to something else, save, then change it back to the name you want and save once more.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Currency must match the business unit. A G/L account’s currency must be one the business unit uses, and the same rule applies to bank accounts.
- Codes are unique within a business unit. Two records of the same kind with the same code in the same business unit share one identifier, so choose a code you won’t need to reuse.
- Departments and accounting projects are assigned on products. A department or project does not affect reporting by itself. It takes effect when a product’s financial setup names it, so revenue can be reported by that dimension.
- G/L accounts you can select elsewhere depend on your business unit access. A G/L account belongs to one business unit. When you pick an account somewhere else, such as a package's revenue options, you can only choose accounts in a business unit you have access to.
- G/L account lists are typically sorted alphabetically, not numerically. A dropdown of G/L accounts elsewhere in Rhythm is usually sorted by account name or code text, not by account number. An account you expect to see near numerically adjacent accounts may appear somewhere else in the list.
- A newly created G/L account may take a little time to show up elsewhere. If you just created a G/L account and it is not available yet in another setup screen’s account list, wait a few minutes and check again instead of assuming the account was not saved.
- Showing account names on transaction subledger entries is a display change only. The Console can show a G/L account's name next to its number on transaction subledger entries. This changes only what you see on screen. It does not change how your account's G/L account code maps to your accounting software's account when you download or sync batches.
- A field named for accounts under Financial Configuration is not the same as a transaction-level subledger field. When you build a query or report and need to filter or search G/L accounts by partial text, a Financial Configuration account field can behave like a selection control instead of a text filter. Use a transaction-level subledger entry field if you need "contains text" matching on an account name.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Codes are permanent. After you save a G/L account, bank account, department, or accounting project, its code, and therefore its identifier, can’t be changed. If you need a different code, create a new record and retire the old one.
- Names, currency, type, and status can be changed at any time without changing the record’s identifier or history.
- Mark a record inactive instead of deleting it when you want to retire it from new use but keep its history. An inactive record works the same way it did while active, except it is hidden from option lists when you create something new until you choose to show inactive records too.
- Prefer a new G/L account over renaming an existing one when the account itself needs to change. If a code needs to represent something different going forward, create a new G/L account in Rhythm and in your accounting software instead of renaming an account already referenced by posted transactions. Renaming an account that is already mapped on the accounting-software side risks a mismatch between the two systems.
Permissions
You need the Collect Administrator role to create, edit, or delete any of these records. See Set Access and Permissions in Finance & Billing.
Validation and Errors
- Code required, and fixed after creation. Rhythm refuses a blank code, and it also refuses changes to the code after creation.
- Currency outside the business unit is refused. Rhythm refuses the save when you choose a currency the business unit does not support.
- Deletion is refused while a record is in use. You can’t delete a G/L account, bank account, or accounting project while a business unit default, another bank account, a merchant account, or a product’s financial setup still points to it. Remove or reassign those references first, or mark the record inactive instead.
Related Tasks
Set up each business unit’s currency, fiscal year, and default accounts before you add its chart of accounts; see Business Units. After the accounts exist, see Accounting Software, Downloads, and Document Templates to connect a business unit to your accounting software.