A chart of accounts (COA) is a list of financial accounts and reference numbers, grouped into categories, such as assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses, and used for recording transactions in the organization's general ledger.
The structure and headings of accounts should assist in consistent posting of transactions.
In the European Union, most countries codify a national GAAP (consistent with the EU accounting directives) and also require IFRS (as outlined by the IAS regulation) for public companies.
The European Commission has spent a great deal of effort on administrative tax harmonisation, and this harmonization is the main focus of the latest version of the EU VAT directive, which aims to achieve better harmonization and support electronic trade documents, such as electronic invoices used in cross border trade, especially within the European Union Value Added Tax Area.
However, since national GAAPs often serve as the basis for determining income tax, and since income tax law is reserved for the member states, no single uniform EU chart of accounts exists.
There are various types of accounts:[1] A chart of accounts compatible with IFRS and US GAAP includes balance sheet (assets, liabilities and equity) and the profit and loss (revenue, expenses, gains and losses) classifications.
If used by a consolidated or combined entity, it also includes separate classifications for intercompany transactions and balances.
The BAS chart is not an SIS national standard because SIS is organised on pay documentation and nobody in the computer world are paying for standard documents[citation needed].