Moving an account to another statement line
How to move an account to a different statement line or note after the draft statements are built, see the effect, and make the choice stick next year.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The draft is built, the reviewer is reading, and there it is: the director's loan sitting in trade payables, rent received inside revenue, a suspense account in other receivables. The account is on the wrong line, and the question is how to move it without undoing a day's work on the set.
This article explains how accounts end up in the wrong place, where to move them in Achekam, what follows them when you do, and how to make the decision stick for next year.
Why accounts end up on the wrong line
Mapping is the bridge between a client's chart of accounts and the lines of the statements. In Achekam, the suggested line for each trial balance account comes from one of four sources: the file's own mapping column, earlier mappings, AI, or keyword rules. A suggestion is not an approved mapping until a person approves it. On top of that, when the Studio builds a draft, AI mapping suggestions with a confidence of 0.5 or more are placed in the draft at once and listed as proposals that someone can accept, move or set aside.
Most wrong lines trace back to one of these:
- Names that mislead. "Loan account - J" could be a director, a customer or a bank.
- Client charts that change. A bookkeeper renames or repurposes an account during the year.
- Proposals nobody worked. An AI proposal went into the draft and was never accepted, moved or set aside.
- Last year's choice no longer fits. An account that was immaterial is now significant and deserves a line of its own.
Finding the mapping workbench
The workbench sits in the Studio's Canvas, under "Mapping". It shows each account with the statement line and note it currently feeds, and it lets staff move accounts by hand.
One trap to know about: the menu entry called "Trial Balance & Source Mapping" opens the Source Room, not the workbench. If you want the screen that shows lines and notes per account, go through the Canvas.
Moving accounts by hand and seeing the effect
Move the account to its correct line in the workbench, then look at the draft. Because the Studio calculates every figure in code from the mapped trial balance, the statement totals, the notes and the detailed income statement all follow the move.
A worked example in words: a client's trial balance has an account called "Loan - shareholder", proposed into trade payables. The reviewer has seen a written agreement deferring repayment, so moves it to a loans-from-shareholders line under non-current liabilities. Trade payables fall by the loan's balance, non-current liabilities rise by the same amount and total liabilities are unchanged. The trade payables note no longer includes the loan, and the related-party note now needs the loan's terms.
Where no existing line is right, a firm can add its own statement lines and groups; each custom line still totals into a standard line, so the notes, the cash flow and the tagging stay consistent. Adding your own statement lines and wording has the detail.
Before giving something small a line of its own, ask whether a separate line actually helps a reader. Materiality decides what deserves presentation, not the client's chart of accounts. The IFAC's discussion piece Making Sense of Materiality explains why materiality is hard to apply in practice and how IFRS Practice Statement 2 helps companies decide what to include in their financial statements.
Notes and note references that follow the move
Notes take their figures from the mapped trial balance, so a moved account carries its balance into the note for its new line. A line carries a note reference only when that note is in the set. Moving the last account out of a line can therefore remove a reference, and moving one in can bring a note into play that was not there before.
Two consequences for the reviewer:
- Re-read the note for the line that received the account. Its wording may still describe the old contents.
- Look for any "[to be completed]" marker the move has brought in. Facts the trial balance does not hold, such as loan terms, are left for a person to supply.
Edited text blocks are kept when the draft is rebuilt. That protects the team's wording, but it also means an out-of-date sentence will survive until somebody changes it.
Moves also ripple into places that are easy to forget. A reclassification between current and non-current changes the working capital a lender may calculate from the balance sheet. A move between operating expenses and cost of sales changes gross profit. And if last year's comparative held the same account on the old line, the comparative needs the same treatment, with a note explaining the reclassification, so the two years still compare like with like. Make the list of moves part of the review record, with a one-line reason for each, so the partner can see at a glance what changed after the first draft.
Making the choice stick for next year
A correction made only in this year's draft may need making again next year unless it reaches the sources of the suggestions. Two habits help:
- Approve the mapping, not just the move. Earlier mappings are one of the sources Achekam draws on for suggestions, so a mapping a person has approved informs what is suggested later.
- Fix the client's chart where you can. If the account name is the problem, ask the client to rename it. A clear name helps every future mapping, whoever does it.
Work the open AI proposals in the same pass; leaving them untouched is how many wrong lines reach a draft in the first place. Clearing AI mapping proposals before signing explains why that matters even though nothing in the Studio forces it.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
