## Documentation Index

Access the complete documentation index at:
https://www.zoho.com/za/books/help/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available documentation pages before proceeding.

# Sub-Accounts

## What are Sub-Accounts?

Sub-accounts are child accounts created under a parent account. It helps to track the income and expense(s) of the parent account effectively.

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## When do I use Sub-Accounts?

Let’s say, you wish to track all your travel expenses and you create an Expense account as Travel. You can create sub-accounts under the parent account as Lodging, Tickets, Cab charges etc. The creation of sub-accounts also helps you to view certain Reports in detail through drill down of the Report.

Few other scenarios are described below where sub-accounts are beneficial to precisely track the income or expense.

### Scenario 1

You maintain an Expense account for all the Insurance you pay. You wish to track all the Insurance payments individually. You can create an Expense account as Insurance. You can create sub-accounts as Property Insurance, Automobile Insurance, Other Insurances etc. under the parent account to track the amount paid for each Insurance.

### Scenario 2

You have a business and there are several ways in which you earn Income. You create an account as Income and you can create sub–accounts as Sales Revenue, Interest Received, Rentals Received, Other Income etc. You can further create a sub-account under Rentals Received such as Beach View Property, Housing flats etc. This helps you to track your Income in detail.

### Scenario 3

You have a Book Shop. You create a Cost of Goods Sold account as parent account. You can track the cost for different genres of books that are sold. You can create sub-accounts such as Fiction, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Romance etc. This helps you to track the costs of the books sold according to genres.

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## Create Sub-Accounts

You can create sub-accounts under a parent account either from Chart of Accounts or directly from certain other modules in Zoho Books.

To create a sub-account from **Chart of Accounts**, please follow the steps mentioned below:

*   Navigate to the **Accountant** module on the side bar and click on ![New Account](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-account.png).
*   A pop-up page is displayed. Select the appropriate **Account Type** and give an **Account Name**.

![New Account](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-account-image.png)

*   Check the **Make this a sub-account** option.
*   Choose a suitable **Parent Account** and fill in the other details.

![New Sub Account](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-sub-account.png)

*   Don’t forget to hit ![Save](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-save.png).

Also, you can create sub-accounts on the go in certain modules. Say **Bills**.

*   Go to the **Bills** module and click on the **+New** button.
*   Click on the **Select Account** drop down menu.

![Select Account](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-bill.png)

![Select New Account](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-bill-new-account.png)

*   Click on **\+ New Account** and a pop-up page is displayed.

![New Account Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-account-image.png)

*   Select the appropriate **Account Type** and give an **Account Name**.
*   Check the **Make this a sub-account** option.
*   Choose a suitable **Parent Account** and fill in the other details.

![New Sub Account Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-new-sub-account.png)

*   Hit ![Save](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-save.png).

In the same way, you can create sub-accounts in the modules such as **Settings**, **Items**, **Credit Notes**, **Expenses**, **Recurring Expenses**, **Purchase Orders**, **Bills**, **Recurring Bills** and **Vendor Credits**.

The newly created sub-accounts will be listed under the parent account in the **Chart of Accounts**.

![Chart of Accounts](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-chart-of-accounts.png)

**Note:** You can create only five sub-accounts under a sub-account. However, you can create multiple sub-accounts under a parent account.

Currently, you can create sub-accounts under all the following **Account Types**,

*   Other Asset
*   Other Current Asset
*   Cash
*   Fixed Asset
*   Stock
*   Other Current Liability
*   Long Term Liability
*   Other Liability
*   Equity
*   Income
*   Other Income
*   Expense
*   Cost of Goods Sold
*   Other Expense

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## Sub-Accounts in Reports

The changes in credit and debit of the sub-accounts will be directly reflected in the **Profit and Loss** Report, **Cash Flow Statement**, **Balance Sheet**, **Trial Balance** and **General Ledger**.

Zoho Books allows you to view the reports either in **Collapsed** view or **Expanded** view. **Collapsed** view displays the parent accounts while the **Expanded** view displays a drill down report along with the sub-accounts.

*   To view the effect of Sub-Accounts in the **Profit and Loss** Report, navigate to **Reports > Business Overview > Profit and Loss**.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-profit-and-loss.png)

Click **Expand All** to view a drill down report of the parent account along with the sub-accounts.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-pl-view.png)

Click **Collapse All** to see only the parent accounts.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-pl-view-collapse.png)

*   You can view the effect of Sub-Accounts in the **Cash Flow Statement** by navigating to **Reports > Business Overview > Cash Flow Statement**.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-cash-flow.png)

*   To view the effect of Sub-Accounts in the **Balance Sheet**, navigate to **Reports > Business Overview > Balance Sheet**.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-balance-sheet.png)

*   The changes reflected by sub-accounts in the **General Ledger** can be viewed by navigating to **Reports > Accountant > General Ledger**.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-general-ledger.png)

*   To view the effect of sub-accounts in the **Trial Balance** Report, navigate to **Reports > Accountant > Trial Balance**.

![New Sub Account Accountant Image](/books/help/images/accountant/sa-trial-balance.png)