Chart of accounts: a seeded group, ledger, template, cost centre or voucher type refuses the change or the delete
Rows the app seeded or that postings already use are protected: seeded groups, system ledgers and system templates keep their name and place, and anything with postings, mappings or vouchers behind it is retired rather than deleted.
Messages this explains
- “Seeded groups keep their name and place; only sort_order may change”
- “A seeded group keeps its name and place; sort order and the direct flag can change.”
- “Seeded group templates keep their name and place”
- “System ledger templates keep their name and group and stay active”
- “A group can only move within its own nature (asset, liability, equity, income or expense).”
- “Enter a code (party ledgers get one automatically)”
- “The group still holds ledgers or sub-groups; move them first.”
- “Postings or mappings reference this ledger; retire it with is_active=false”
- “Postings reference this cost centre; deactivate it instead of deleting it.”
- “Vouchers use this voucher type; deactivate it instead of deleting it.”
- “This template was copied into books or is mapped; retire it instead of deleting it.”
Chart of accounts: a seeded group, ledger, template, cost centre or voucher type refuses the change or the delete
You tried to rename, move or delete a row of the chart of accounts, a cost centre or a voucher type, and the app refused. The row is either one the app seeded and depends on, or one that vouchers, mappings or bills already point at.
What you see
- Opening a seeded group (marked with a lock icon) shows the note "A seeded group keeps its name and place; sort order and the direct flag can change." Pressing Save changes then fails with "Seeded groups keep their name and place; only sort_order may change". Today this happens for every change to a seeded group, the sort order and Direct (affects gross profit) included, because the panel always sends the name and parent along.
- The Parent group list of any group offers only groups of the same class and leaves out the group's own sub-groups, so a group can't be moved into another class or under itself.
- Seeded groups have no delete button.
- Deleting a group that still has ledgers or sub-groups: "The group still holds ledgers or sub-groups; move them first." (the Delete group? dialog already warns "Only an empty group (no ledgers, no sub-groups) can be deleted.").
On Ledgers:
- A system ledger (1000 Cash in Hand, 3200 Profit & Loss Account, 5570 Rounding Off) opens with the note "A system ledger (cash, profit and loss, rounding) keeps its name and group and stays active." Its Group, Name, party and Active fields are greyed out, and it has no delete button.
- A ledger that already has a party shows the party as plain text with "The party link cannot be changed." instead of the party picker.
- Saving an ordinary ledger without a code: "Enter a code (party ledgers get one automatically)".
- Moving a ledger that already has postings into a group of another class: "A group can only move within its own nature (asset, liability, equity, income or expense)."
- Deleting a ledger with postings, mappings, bills or payments behind it: "Postings or mappings reference this ledger; retire it with is_active=false".
- Saving a seeded group template: "Seeded group templates keep their name and place". As with seeded groups, today every save of a seeded group template is refused, sort order and Direct (affects gross profit) included.
- Saving a system ledger template (1000, 3200 or 5570; the panel notes "A system template keeps its name and group."): "System ledger templates keep their name and group and stay active". Today every save of a system ledger template is refused, whichever field you changed, because the panel sends the name and group along.
- Deleting a ledger template that any set of books has copied, or that a template mapping uses: "This template was copied into books or is mapped; retire it instead of deleting it." (the Delete ledger template? dialog already warns "A template already copied into books or mapped cannot be deleted; retire it instead.").
- Deleting a group template that still has sub-groups or ledger templates, or that any set of books has copied, shows the same message (the Delete group template? dialog says "Only an empty template group can be deleted.").
On Cost centres:
- Deleting a cost centre that voucher lines or component mappings use, or that still has child cost centres: "Postings reference this cost centre; deactivate it instead of deleting it."
On Voucher types, deleting a type that vouchers already use: "Vouchers use this voucher type; deactivate it instead of deleting it."
Why it happens
- Seeded rows are the backbone of the chart. Every set of books is copied from the organization's templates, and the Consolidated report matches ledgers and groups across books by the template they came from. The five classes and the 23 seeded groups keep their name and place so that every promoter's books line up. The three system ledgers are used by the app itself: 1000 takes cash receipts and payouts, 3200 receives the year-end close, 5570 rounding. They can't be renamed, moved or retired.
- Nature comes from the class. A group under Assets is an asset group, and so is every ledger in it. Moving a group, or a ledger with postings, into another class would move balances between the Balance sheet and Profit & loss, so the app refuses. A group can't sit under its own sub-group for the same reason a folder can't be moved into itself.
- A party ledger belongs to one party for good. It is settled bill by bill against that person, company or society member; re-pointing it would leave their bills on someone else's ledger.
- A bank ledger mirrors one of the promoter's own accounts. The books belong to one company, so the Bank account list offers only that company's accounts.
- Rows in use are retired, never deleted. Posted vouchers are immutable and corrected by reversal. If a ledger, cost centre, voucher type or template that they reference were deleted, the history behind reports, bills and numbering would break. Codes are never reused either, so a retired row keeps its code reserved.
How to fix it
- Leave seeded groups, system ledgers and system templates as they are. Add your own group with New group or Add sub-group under any class or seeded group, and your own ledgers with New ledger. You need the Create permission on Chart of Accounts. In the default roles that is the Administrator, the Finance Lead and the Accountant.
- To move a ledger that already has postings, pick a group of the same class (asset, liability, equity, income or expense). If the ledger really belongs in another class, retire it and open a new ledger there. This needs the Edit permission on Chart of Accounts.
- To change a ledger's party, keep the old ledger and open the right one with Party ledger on Ledgers, which finds or creates the party's own ledger (Create on Chart of Accounts).
- Give an ordinary ledger a code (letters, digits, underscores, full stops and hyphens, at most 30 characters). Only party ledgers get their CUST- / TEN- / CP- / VEN- code automatically.
- To delete a group, first move its ledgers to another group (edit each ledger's Group) and delete or move its sub-groups; then delete the empty group. Deleting needs the Delete permission on Chart of Accounts (Administrator and Finance Lead by default).
- Instead of deleting a used ledger, retire it: open it, untick Active, Save changes (Edit on Chart of Accounts). It keeps its history and takes no new postings. If a component mapping still points at it, remap the component first on Component mappings, or the next posting of that charge fails with "Account <code> <name> is retired".
- Instead of deleting a used cost centre or voucher type, deactivate it: open it, untick Active, Save changes. Both need the Edit permission on Books (Administrator and Finance Lead by default). A cost centre with child cost centres can't be deleted while they exist, whatever the message says; delete or move the children first.
- Instead of deleting a used ledger template, retire it on Organization templates: open it, untick Active, Save changes (Edit on Chart of Accounts). Retiring a ledger template also clears Auto-create in new books; the code stays reserved. A group template has no Active switch: empty it of sub-groups and ledger templates first, and one that books have already copied stays.
Related
Related
- 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.
- 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.
- Cost centresScreen
The cost-centre tree of a set of books, usually one per project with a child per tower, so the ledger and the reports can be cut by project; mirror the projects in one click or add cost centres by hand.
- Voucher typesScreen
The voucher numbering series of a set of books, one per kind of voucher: add a series, or change its prefix, suffix, digits and whether it restarts each fiscal year.
- 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.
- Books overviewScreen
The home page of one set of books: its company and settings, counts, fiscal years, and shortcuts to the chart of accounts, vouchers, reports and opening balances, with the actions to rename, deactivate or delete the books.
- Posting stopped: a charge component or standard ledger is missing from these booksTroubleshooting
A demand, payout, commission, cancellation or revenue run could not post because a charge component has no ledger in the promoter's books, or a template ledger or group the posting needs was never copied into them; map the component or sync the templates, then retry.