The contents depend upon the needs and preferences of the company using it. Accounts are classified into assets, liabilities, capital, income, and expenses; and each is given a unique account number. A coding system is used to organize the accounts. Provided below is a sample chart of accounts for a small sole proprietorship business: There are a few things that you should keep in mind when you are building a chart of accounts for your business. Numbering – Don’t use all concurrent numbers for your accounts. You will probably need to add accounts in the future. If you don’t leave gaps in between each number, you won’t be able to add new accounts in the right order. The accounts are usually numeric, but can also be alphabetic or alphanumeric. The Chart of Accounts is the backbone of your accounting system. That’s why it is so important to understand how it works. Think of a chart of accounts as a file cabinet, with a file for each type of accounting information you want to track.