Subaccounts: General Information

In MYOB Advanced, you can use subaccounts in addition to accounts to record your financial data. You use subaccounts to virtually split accounts into smaller, more specific accounts to achieve finer classification for reporting and internal management purposes. Before you begin to use subaccounts, the system has to be properly configured.

Tip: In production use, we recommend that subaccounts be configured very early in the system setup, when you configure the general ledger settings, including the chart of accounts.

Learning Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn how to do the following:
  • Enable the Subaccounts feature
  • Modify the predefined SUBACCOUNT segmented key
  • Specify values for subaccount segments

Applicable Scenarios

You configure subaccounts in the system when it is necessary to provide more detailed reports and to separate data in the reports. For example, if the company wants to report expenses by department and report revenue by sales region, you might configure subaccounts with at least two segments (for department and sales region).

Implementation Workflow

To configure subaccounts in the system, you do the following:

  1. Enable the Subaccounts feature on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.
  2. Configure the SUBACCOUNT segmented key on the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form, and define the list of possible values for segments on the Segment Values (CS203000) form.
  3. If the By Segmented Key mode is selected for the SUBACCOUNT segmented key on the Segmented Keys form, define the needed subaccounts on the Subaccounts (GL203000) form.

After you have performed these actions, you can start recording transactions to account–subaccount pairs.

Configuration of Subaccount Identifiers

MYOB Advanced provides the predefined SUBACCOUNT segmented key, which determines the structure of subaccount identifiers and which you can access and edit on the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form. You can modify this segmented key so that the structure of subaccount identifiers meets the company’s business needs.

The SUBACCOUNT segmented key consists of a string, which can be up to 30 characters. You can divide the segmented key into multiple segments or can leave it non-segmented. To make subaccount identifiers easy to remember for users of the system (and thus less likely to be entered incorrectly), we recommend that you compose identifiers of segments with different meanings. For example, the subaccount identifiers could contain a two-character regional branch code, a one-digit department number, and a three-character product type, resulting in an identifier such as CA-1-T32. For a more detailed example of the planning of meaningful identifiers, see Subaccounts: Example of Planning of Subaccount Identifiers.

Depending on the validation setting of the subaccount entry (see the following section), you might need to add all necessary subaccounts on the Subaccounts (GL203000) form.

You use the table on the Segmented Keys form to configure the segments of the SUBACCOUNT segmented key, with each row representing the settings of a segment. By using the check box in the Validate column of the table, you can also turn on validation for the segment values of subaccounts. If this validation is turned on for a segment, the segment values have to be specified on the Segment Values (CS203000) form. If this validation is turned off, a user can enter a new segment directly on a data entry form or the Subaccounts form.

Validation of Entered Subaccounts

The validation of subaccounts during data entry is controlled by the entry and lookup mode selected in the Lookup Mode box in the Summary area of the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form for the SUBACCOUNT segmented key. Depending on whether you want to turn on validation or not, you do one of the following:

  • To give users the ability to select subaccounts on a data entry form only from the list of defined subaccounts in the system, you select the By Segmented Key mode. In this case, all necessary subaccounts have to be specified on the Subaccounts (GL203000) form before any transaction can be entered.
  • To give users the ability to enter subaccounts on a data entry form by selecting the values segment by segment, you select the By Segment: All Avail. Segment Values mode. When a user enters a new subaccount on any data entry form, the system automatically adds it to the list of subaccounts on the Subaccounts form.
    Tip: You might want to select the By Segment: All Avail. Segment Values mode when the number of segments and the number of values in each segment could produce too many combinations to enter them in advance.