AKA “Charts of Accounts”. One of the next decisions organizations will need to make when setting up their accounting system is their expense categories or “chart of accounts”. These are broad categories for accounting that help track income and expenses – they are the basis of accounting. These can include categories such as:

• Checking (Bank Account)
• Savings (Bank Account)
• Accounts Receivable
• Supplies
• Prepaid Expenses
• Property
• Equipment
• Accumulated Depreciation
• Accumulated Amortization
• Accounts Payable
• Salaries/Wages
• Payroll Taxes
• Employee Benefits

One thing SSPs should keep in mind when planning their expense categories is how they may be impacted by funding. For example, an expense category such as “supplies” is probably far too broad for many SSPs who may be receiving funding from separate funders and need to account separately for different supplies like injection health related supplies, naloxone, and safer sex supplies for reporting or other funder requirements.