This chart of accounts is suitable for use with IFRS.
IFRS approaches accounting from a reporting-focused perspective, with emphasis on recognition, measurement, and financial statement presentation and disclosure. As such, it does not prescribe bookkeeping procedures or a standard chart of accounts. Entities operating in jurisdictions such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, India, etc. may generally define any COA provided it yields a financial report consistent with IFRS guidance.
Nevertheless, as designing a workable COA is a time consuming and laborious process, many entities prefer to use an off-the-self version particularly if it can be, with minimal effort, adjusted to reflect the entity’s financial structure.
In its basic form, it is suitable for a small business and is available free of charge.
As a general rule, only publicly traded entities have a formal obligation to apply IFRS or US GAAP guidance. As such, their accounting system must be robust enough to fulfill the extensive recognition and measurement guidance outlined in these standards.
Non-public entities in jurisdictions that do not mandate accounting practices have more flexibility and may elect to use any structure they choose. Nevertheless, a sound account structure will help any business, regardless of size, optimize its operational efficiency and fuel data-driven decision-making. Equally important, it allows the entity to fulfill the tax reporting obligation shared by all entities, regardless of size or ownership structure.
Since the IFRS SME standard is the backbone of accounting for all entities, COAs that reflect this guidance are useful to all but the smallest businesses.
Businesses whose accounting consists of tracking cash flow so they can report income to a tax authority have no need for a COA or any formal accounting system. Their accounting needs can be met by simply downloading a bank statement and adding up all their cash receipts and disbursements.
As anyone who has ever started a business knows, starting a business is the easy part. Keeping it running smoothly and profitably is where the real challenge lies. To help those just starting out, this site publishes workable, basic COAs, that can be expanded as needed, free of charge. After all, every business that survives the startup phase makes the business community richer and more diverse so is in everyone's best interest.
In its advanced form, it is scalable and may be used by businesses of any size.
Its advanced version is suitable for a single large entity as well as a group of entities. Its expanded version is designed for entities facing complex tasks such as accounting for various financial instruments or consolidating subsidiaries operating in foreign jurisdictions, particularly where they are also subject to non‑IFRS accounting and/or reporting requirements. For publicly traded entities, its XBRL cross‑referenced version is designed to assist in drafting the machine‑readable financial reports required by some regulators.
A guide on how to set up the COA to serve various roles is presented on the implementation guidance page below.
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Implementation guidance
Additional guidance on how to implement a COA is provided on this page.
IFRS COA
|
Account Title |
Account # |
Depth |
Balance |
|
Assets |
1 |
0 |
Dr |
|
Property, plant and equipment |
1.1 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Land and land improvements |
1.1.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Buildings, structures and improvements |
1.1.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Machinery and equipment |
1.1.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Fixtures and fittings |
1.1.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Right of use assets (classified as PP&E) |
1.1.5 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Additional property, plant and equipment |
1.1.6 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Construction in progress |
1.1.7 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Investment property |
1.2 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Completed |
1.2.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Under construction or development |
1.2.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Goodwill |
1.3 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Intangible assets excluding goodwill |
1.4 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Intellectual property |
1.4.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Computer software |
1.4.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Trade and distribution assets |
1.4.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Contracts and rights |
1.4.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Right of use assets |
1.4.5 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Crypto assets (classified as intangible) |
1.4.6 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Additional intangible assets |
1.4.7 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Acquisition in progress |
1.4.8 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other financial assets |
1.5 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Non-derivative financial assets |
1.5.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Derivative financial assets |
1.5.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Additional financial assets |
1.5.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Crypto assets (classified as financial assets) |
1.5.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Inventories |
1.6 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Merchandise |
1.6.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Raw materials and production supplies |
1.6.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Work in progress |
1.6.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Finished goods |
1.6.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other inventories |
1.6.5 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Prepayments and accrued income including contract assets |
1.7 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Prepayments |
1.7.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Accrued income including contract assets |
1.7.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Service provider work in process (not classified as inventory) |
1.7.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Additional assets |
1.7.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Receivables and contracts |
1.8 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Loans and receivables |
1.8.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Contracts with customers |
1.8.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Nontrade and other receivables |
1.8.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Tax assets |
1.9 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Tax assets |
1.9.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Deferred tax assets |
1.9.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other tax assets |
1.9.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Agricultural biological assets |
1.10 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Bearer plants |
1.10.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Animals |
1.10.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other agricultural assets |
1.10.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
1.11 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Cash |
1.11.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Cash equivalents |
1.11.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Restricted cash and financial assets |
1.11.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Equity |
2 |
0 |
(Cr) |
|
Total equity attributable to owners of parent |
2.1 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Issued capital |
2.1.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Additional item paid-in capital |
2.1.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Partner's capital |
2.1.3 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Member's equity |
2.1.4 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Other equity interest |
2.1.5 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Retained earnings |
2.2 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Retained earnings profit loss for reporting period |
2.2.1 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Retained earnings excluding profit loss for reporting period |
2.2.2 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
In suspense |
2.2.3 |
2 |
Zero |
|
Other reserves |
2.3 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Reserve of exchange differences on translation |
2.3.1 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Reserve of cash flow hedges |
2.3.2 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Reserve of gains and losses on remeasuring available-for-sale financial assets |
2.3.3 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Reserve of remeasurements of defined benefit plans |
2.3.4 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Reserve of gains and losses on remeasuring available-for-sale financial assets |
2.3.5 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Additional AOCI items |
2.3.6 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Stock receivables |
2.3.7 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Treasury shares |
2.3.8 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Additional equity items |
2.3.9 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Owners Equity |
2.4 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Non-controlling interests |
2.5 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Liabilities |
3 |
0 |
(Cr) |
|
Trade and other payables |
3.1 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Trade payables |
3.1.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Dividend payables |
3.1.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Interest payable |
3.1.3 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Other payables |
3.1.4 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Payables (foreign currency) |
3.1.5 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Provisions |
3.2 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Customer related provisions |
3.2.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Litigation and regulatory |
3.2.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Additional provisions |
3.2.3 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Other financial liabilities |
3.3 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Notes payable |
3.3.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Loans received |
3.3.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Bonds (debentures) |
3.3.3 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Other debts and borrowings |
3.3.4 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Lease obligations |
3.3.5 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Derivative financial liabilities |
3.3.6 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Accruals, deferrals and additional liabilities |
3.4 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Accruals |
3.4.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Deferred income and refund liabilities |
3.4.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Construction projects (special accounts) |
3.4.3 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Accrued taxes other than payroll |
3.4.4 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Additional liabilities |
3.4.5 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Revenue |
4 |
0 |
(Cr) |
|
Recognized point of time |
4.1 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Goods |
4.1.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Services |
4.1.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Recognized over time |
4.2 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Products and projects |
4.2.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Services |
4.2.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Adjustments |
4.3 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Variable consideration |
4.3.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Consideration paid payable to customers |
4.3.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other adjustments |
4.3.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Expenses |
5 |
0 |
Dr |
|
Expenses (classified by nature) |
5.1 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Material and merchandise |
5.1.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Employee benefits expense |
5.1.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Services expense |
5.1.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Rent, depreciation, amortization and depletion |
5.1.4 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Increase in decrease in inventories of finished goods and work in progress |
5.1.5 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Other work performed by entity and capitalized |
5.1.6 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Expenses (classified by function) |
5.2 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Cost of sales |
5.2.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Selling, general and administrative expense |
5.2.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other non-operating income and expenses |
6 |
0 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Other revenue and expenses |
6.1 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Other revenue |
6.1.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Other expenses |
6.1.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Gains and losses |
6.2 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Foreign currency gain or loss |
6.2.1 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Investments gain or loss |
6.2.2 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Derivatives gain or loss |
6.2.3 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Crypto asset gain or loss |
6.2.4 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Disposal of assets gain or loss |
6.2.5 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Debt related gain or loss |
6.2.6 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Credit Losses |
6.2.7 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Impairment Loss or Reversal Determined in Accordance with IFRS9 |
6.2.8 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Impairment loss |
6.2.9 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Other gains and losses |
6.2.10 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Taxes other than income and payroll and fees |
6.3 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Tax income (expense) |
6.4 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Intercompany and related party accounts |
7 |
0 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Intercompany and related party assets |
7.1 |
1 |
Dr |
|
Intercompany balances eliminated in consolidation |
7.1.1 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Related party balances reported or disclosed |
7.1.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Investments in subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates reported in separate financial statements |
7.1.3 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Intercompany and related party liabilities |
7.2 |
1 |
(Cr) |
|
Intercompany balances eliminated in consolidation |
7.2.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Related party balances reported or disclosed |
7.2.2 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Intercompany and related party income and expense |
7.3 |
1 |
Dr or (Cr) |
|
Intercompany and related party income |
7.3.1 |
2 |
(Cr) |
|
Intercompany and related party expenses |
7.3.2 |
2 |
Dr |
|
Income loss from equity method investments |
7.3.3 |
2 |
Dr or (Cr) |
Updated: April 2025
The 2026 update will be released following the IASB's release of the 2026 XBRL taxonomy.
The COA published on this page may be republished provided the following citation is provided: