The chart of accounts: templates, books copies, nature and system rows
The organization keeps one master chart (group templates, ledger templates and default mappings) and every set of books holds its own copy of it; each group carries a nature (asset, liability, equity, income, expense) and a Direct flag that feeds gross profit, a few system rows are locked, codes are never reused, and the Consolidated report adds the books up by the template each ledger came from.
The chart of accounts: templates, books copies, nature and system rows
The chart of accounts is the list of ledgers a set of books posts to, arranged in reporting groups under the five classes. In NirmaanOne it has two layers: the organization's master chart, kept as templates, and each set of books' own copy of it. The copy is what the books post to and what you edit day to day; the templates are what every new set of books starts from and what lets the Consolidated report line the entities up side by side.
How it works in NirmaanOne
The two layers
The Organization templates tab of Chart of accounts holds the master chart: Group templates, Ledger templates and Template mappings (the default ledger per charge component). Every organization is seeded with 5 classes, 23 reporting groups, 90 ledger templates (88 of them marked Auto-create in new books; the two superseded GST templates 1310 and 2200 are retired) and 21 template mappings.
When books are set up, the templates are copied into the books: every group template, every active auto-create ledger template, and the template mappings whose ledgers were copied. Each copied row remembers the template it came from, which is what "Copied from template <code>" on a ledger means. From then on the two layers live apart:
- Editing a template does not touch existing books. To carry additions across, open the books' Component mappings tab and press Sync from templates: it adds the groups, active auto-create ledgers and template mappings the books still lack, matched by template (a ledger with the same code or name counts as present). It never renames, moves or remaps a row the books already have; it only fills in a revenue treatment on an existing mapping that has none.
- Ledgers added directly to a set of books, party ledgers and bank ledgers have no template.
Nature, groups and the Direct flag
Every group carries the nature of the class it sits under: asset, liability, equity, income or expense. A new group takes the nature of its parent ("The nature (asset, liability, equity, income, expense) comes from the parent."), can only be moved within its nature ("A group can only move within its own nature (asset, liability, equity, income or expense)."), and a ledger that has postings cannot be moved to a group of another nature. The seeded code convention is "1xxx asset, 2xxx liability, 3xxx equity, 4xxx income, 5xxx expense".
The nature decides the side a balance normally sits on (opening balances default to Dr for asset and expense ledgers, Cr for the rest) and which statement a ledger appears in: income and expense groups make up the Profit & loss; asset, liability and equity groups make up the Balance sheet.
Direct (affects gross profit) is a flag on a group ("Revenue and cost of construction; the rest is indirect."). Seeded as direct: Revenue, Rehab Cost, Construction Cost and Cost of Sales. What counts is the flag on the group a ledger sits in directly: a sub-group you add under Revenue is indirect unless you tick it too. The profit and loss statement reads:
- direct income = movement on ledgers under direct income groups;
- direct expense = movement on ledgers under direct expense groups;
- gross profit = direct income − direct expense;
- net profit = total income − total expense (a loss when negative).
The Trial balance in Groups view and the profit and loss trees mark direct groups with a Direct badge.
System rows and retired codes
A few rows are locked because postings depend on them:
- the seeded groups keep their name and place and cannot be deleted;
- the ledgers 1000 Cash in Hand, 3200 Profit & Loss Account and 5570 Rounding Off are system ledgers: they keep their name and group, stay active and cannot be deleted ("A system ledger (cash, profit and loss, rounding) keeps its name and group and stays active."). Cash is where a payment with no bank account posts, 3200 is where the year-end close moves the year's income and expense, and their templates are locked the same way.
Everything else can be renamed, but codes are never reused. A ledger with postings, mappings or bills cannot be deleted; retire it by unticking Active ("Retired ledgers keep their history but take no postings."). A template already copied into books or mapped cannot be deleted either; retiring it clears Auto-create and keeps the code reserved. Automatic postings also rely on seeded ledgers being active in the books, among them 1000 Cash in Hand, 1300 TDS Receivable (debited by a TDS credit, the buyer's 194-IA deposit recorded under Payments > TDS credits; demands issued before 10 October 2026 debited it on issue), 1311 to 1313 GST input, 2100 Contract Liability - Sale of Units, 2230 IGST, 2300 TDS Payable, 3200 and 4300 Forfeiture / Cancellation Income, and the revenue-recognition ledgers (1220, 1270, 1500, 1510, 1600, 2115, 2640, 5400, 5410); retiring one of them stops the posting with "These books have no active ledger copied from template <code>; sync templates".
Consolidation
The Consolidated report puts every active set of books on one trial-balance-style page for a date range. Rows are keyed by template: ledgers copied from the same template add into one row (Ledgers view) and groups by their template group (Groups view), so 4100 Sale Revenue - Units of every promoter is one line. Ledgers with no template (party ledgers, bank ledgers and any ledger added directly to one set of books) roll up as one row per group, "PARTY-<group code>" / "Party ledgers - <group name>", whatever kind they are. The Books column names the sets that contributed. Each set of books uses the fiscal year covering the From date and is cut at that year's end; a set with no year covering From is listed under "Skipped". Amounts are simply added; there is no elimination of dealings between the entities. A project cut keeps only lines tagged with that project's cost centre and drops opening balances.
Why templates
A group with three promoter entities wants one chart, not three that drift apart. Templates give every new entity the same codes and default mappings from day one, let a new standard ledger be added once and synced everywhere, and give the Consolidated report a key to match on. Keeping each set of books' copy separate still lets an entity's accountant add a ledger only that entity needs.
Example
Shree Siddhi Developers keeps two sets of books, "Shree Siddhi Developers" and "Om Sai Realty", both copied from the organization templates when they were set up.
The finance lead wants a separate ledger for site security across the group. On Organization templates > Ledger templates she presses New ledger template: group Construction Cost, code 5165, name "Site Security Services", Auto-create in new books on. The template is saved; the two existing sets of books are unchanged. She switches the Books switcher to each set in turn and presses Sync from templates on the Component mappings tab: "Synced: 0 groups, 1 ledgers, 0 mappings added." Both sets now have 5165, "Copied from template 5165", under the Construction Cost group, which is direct.
For FY 2026-27 the Shree Siddhi profit and loss shows:
| Ledger | Group (nature) | Direct? | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4100 Sale Revenue - Units | Revenue (income) | yes | ₹4,50,00,000.00 |
| 4130 Other Charges Recovered - Buyers | Revenue (income) | yes | ₹12,00,000.00 |
| 4600 Interest Income - Other | Revenue (income) | yes | ₹1,50,000.00 |
| 5160 Contractor Work Bills | Construction Cost (expense) | yes | ₹2,10,00,000.00 |
| 5100 Displacement Rent Expense | Rehab Cost (expense) | yes | ₹36,00,000.00 |
| 5200 Brokerage Expense | Selling Cost (expense) | no | ₹9,00,000.00 |
| 5500 Salaries and Wages | Administrative (expense) | no | ₹24,00,000.00 |
Direct income = 4,50,00,000 + 12,00,000 + 1,50,000 = ₹4,63,50,000.00 (the seeded Revenue group is direct, so interest under it counts as direct). Direct expense = 2,10,00,000 + 36,00,000 = ₹2,46,00,000.00. Gross profit = 4,63,50,000 − 2,46,00,000 = ₹2,17,50,000.00. Total expense = 2,46,00,000 + 9,00,000 + 24,00,000 = ₹2,79,00,000.00. Net profit = 4,63,50,000 − 2,79,00,000 = ₹1,84,50,000.00. If she moved 4600 under a new indirect group "Other Income", the gross profit would drop to ₹2,16,00,000.00 and the net profit would not change.
On Consolidated for the same year in Ledgers view, the row 4100 Sale Revenue - Units shows Shree Siddhi's ₹4,50,00,000.00 plus Om Sai's ₹1,20,00,000.00 = ₹5,70,00,000.00 with both books in the Books column, and the buyers' ledgers of both entities appear as one row "PARTY-AS_RECEIVABLE · Party ledgers - Receivable".
Where you see it
- Organization templates (Chart templates): group templates, ledger templates, template mappings.
- Chart of accounts: Groups: the books' group tree with nature badges, Direct and the seeded-group lock.
- Ledgers: the books' ledgers, "Copied from template", system ledgers, Active / Retired.
- Component mappings: Sync from templates.
- Books: "Setting up books copies the organization's chart of accounts…".
- Profit & loss: Direct income, Direct expense, Gross profit, Net profit.
- Balance sheet and Trial balance: the classes and groups.
- Consolidated: rows by template with the Books column.
- Fiscal years: the year-end close into 3200.
Related
Related
- Organization templates (Chart templates)Screen
Your organization's master chart of accounts, from which every new set of books is copied: group templates, ledger templates and the default ledger per charge component.
- Chart of accounts: GroupsScreen
The reporting groups of the chosen set of books as a tree under the five classes (asset, liability, equity, income, expense); add your own groups and delete empty ones.
- LedgersScreen
Every ledger of the chosen set of books, as a grouped tree or a flat list, with the actions to add ledgers and party ledgers, edit or retire them, and open a ledger's report.
- Component mappingsScreen
Which ledger each charge component posts to in the chosen set of books (a main ledger, an optional second tax ledger, an optional cost centre and, for sale and tenant charges, the revenue treatment and contract liability ledger), and the action to copy template additions into the books.
- BooksScreen
The list of every set of books in your organization, one per promoter company, with the actions to set up books for a company, open a set or delete one.
- Profit & lossScreen
Income against expense for a range inside one fiscal year, with gross profit, net profit or loss, and CSV export.
- Balance sheetScreen
Assets against liabilities and equity as of a date, with the year's profit to date carried into equity and a check that the two sides agree.
- Trial balanceScreen
Opening, period debit and credit and closing per ledger or per group for a fiscal-year range, on a grid you can sort, resize and filter by column, with the report's totals in the footer and CSV export.
- ConsolidatedScreen
One trial-balance-style view across every active set of books in your organization, matched by the organization's template ledgers or groups, with an optional project cut.
- Fiscal yearsScreen
The fiscal years of a set of books with their 12 monthly periods: lock or unlock a month, open the next year, and close or reopen a year at year end.
- Ledger reportScreen
The ledger of one account between two dates: opening balance, every posting with a running balance, and closing balance, with CSV export.
- Books, the active books switcher and cost centresConcept
A set of books is the ledger of one promoter company: every posting for a project lands in its promoter's books, every accounting screen works on the one set chosen in the Books switcher, and cost centres inside the books (usually one per project with a child per tower) let the ledger and reports be cut by project.
- Component mappings: which ledgers a charge posts toConcept
A component mapping tells one set of books where a charge component posts: a main ledger, an optional second tax ledger, an optional cost centre and, for sale and tenant charges, the revenue treatment; demands, commissions, benefit accruals, payouts and cancellations all read it, and an unmapped component stops the posting.
- Party ledgers, bill-wise tracking and ageingConcept
A party ledger is the bill-wise ledger a set of books keeps for one buyer, society member, channel partner or vendor, created on first use with a generated code; every posting on it is allocated as New Ref (opens a bill), Against Ref (settles one), Advance or On Account, so the books know what each bill still owes and how overdue it is.
- Fiscal years, periods, locks, opening balances and the year-end closeConcept
Each set of books runs in fiscal years of twelve monthly periods; a voucher can post only into an open year and an unlocked period, opening balances carry each ledger's balance into a year, the year-end close moves income and expense into Profit & Loss Account by a closing journal and writes the next year's openings, and a monthly balance cache is kept as a cross-check.
- Bank accounts, purposes and bank ledgersConcept
One register of every bank account you pay from or into: who owns an account, what its purpose tag means, why the collection, RERA separate, operative and GST purposes belong to the promoter, what the primary account and the IFSC are for, and how a bank ledger is created in the books.