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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.encoreos.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Overview

The Chart of Accounts (CoA) module provides comprehensive fund accounting capabilities for behavioral health organizations, including fund tracking, department hierarchies, program management, and fiscal period control.

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Table of Contents

  1. Chart of Accounts Setup
  2. Fund Management
  3. Department Hierarchy
  4. Programs Configuration
  5. Fiscal Period Management
  6. Starter Chart of Accounts

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Chart of Accounts Setup

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Creating Accounts

  1. Navigate to Finance → Chart of Accounts
  2. Click New Account
  3. Fill in required fields:
    • Account Number: Unique identifier (e.g., 1000)
    • Account Name: Descriptive name (e.g., Cash - Operating)
    • Account Type: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, or Expense
    • Account Subtype: Specific classification within type
    • Normal Balance: Debit or Credit
  4. Optional configuration:
    • Parent Account: Create hierarchical structure
    • Default Fund: Assign to specific fund
    • Requires Fund: Force fund selection on transactions
    • Requires Department: Force department selection
    • Allows Posting: Enable direct journal entries

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Account Hierarchy

Accounts support multi-level hierarchies:
  • Control Accounts: Summary accounts (e.g., 1000 - Assets)
  • Sub-Accounts: Detail accounts (e.g., 1010 - Cash, 1020 - A/R)
  • Level: Auto-calculated based on parent relationships

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Fund Management

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Fund Types

Unrestricted Funds
  • General operating funds
  • No donor restrictions
  • Maximum flexibility in usage
Temporarily Restricted Funds
  • Donor-imposed restrictions
  • Released when conditions met
  • Time or purpose-based
Permanently Restricted Funds
  • Endowments
  • Principal permanently restricted
  • Only earnings may be spent
Special Purpose Funds
  • Designated for specific programs
  • Board-restricted or donor-restricted
Capital Funds
  • Building and equipment purchases
  • Major capital improvements
Operating Funds
  • Day-to-day operations
  • Program-specific operating expenses

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Creating Funds

  1. Navigate to Finance → Funds
  2. Click New Fund
  3. Configure:
    • Fund Number: Unique code
    • Fund Name: Descriptive name
    • Fund Type: Select from types above
    • Restrictions (if applicable):
      • Donor restrictions
      • Purpose restrictions
      • Time restrictions

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Fund Tracking Best Practices

  • Create separate funds for each grant/contract
  • Use descriptive names (e.g., SAMHSA-BH-2024)
  • Document all restrictions in the system
  • Review fund balances monthly
  • Track restriction releases

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Department Hierarchy

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Creating Departments

  1. Navigate to Finance → Departments
  2. Click New Department
  3. Fill in:
    • Department Code: Short identifier (e.g., ADMIN)
    • Department Name: Full name
    • Parent Department: Create hierarchy
    • Cost Center: Accounting reference
    • Is Clinical: Flag for clinical departments

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Hierarchical Organization

Example structure: 
Administration (ADMIN)
├── Finance (FIN)
├── HR (HR)
└── IT (IT)

Clinical Services (CLIN)
├── Residential Treatment (RES)
├── Outpatient (OP)
└── Case Management (CM)

Support Services (SUPP)
├── Facilities (FAC)
└── Maintenance (MAINT)

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Department Reporting

  • Cost center tracking
  • Department-level P&L
  • Budget vs. actual by department
  • Cross-department allocations

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Programs Configuration

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Creating Programs

  1. Navigate to Finance → Programs
  2. Click New Program
  3. Configure:
    • Program Code: Unique identifier
    • Program Name: Service line name
    • Department: Link to owning department
    • Revenue Generating: Yes/No flag

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Program Types

Revenue-Generating Programs
  • Direct client service programs
  • Track program-specific revenue
  • Allocate costs appropriately
Non-Revenue Programs
  • Administrative functions
  • Support services
  • Overhead allocation targets

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Program Tracking

Use programs to:
  • Track service line profitability
  • Allocate indirect costs
  • Report to funders by program
  • Analyze program efficiency

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Fiscal Period Management

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Creating Fiscal Years

  1. Navigate to Finance → Fiscal Periods
  2. Click New Fiscal Year
  3. Enter:
    • Year Code: e.g., FY2024
    • Start Date: Fiscal year start
    • End Date: Fiscal year end
    • Is Current: Mark as active year
  4. System auto-generates 12 monthly periods

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Period Status

Closed (Default)
  • No journal entries allowed
  • Safe state for future periods
Open
  • Posting enabled
  • Current working period
  • Can close/reopen as needed
Locked
  • Permanently closed
  • Prevents any changes
  • Used after audit/finalization
  • Requires confirmation to lock

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Period Controls

Opening a Period:
  1. Select period
  2. Click Open Period
  3. Begin posting transactions
Closing a Period:
  1. Verify all entries posted
  2. Run month-end reports
  3. Click Close Period
  4. Optional: Lock if finalized
Locking a Period:
  1. Ensure period is closed
  2. Complete audit/review
  3. Click Lock Period
  4. Confirm warning dialog
  5. ⚠️ This cannot be easily reversed

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Best Practices

  • Open only current period
  • Close previous period before opening next
  • Lock periods only after final audit
  • Maintain clear period boundaries
  • Document period-end procedures

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Chart of Accounts Templates

Encore Health OS ships a Template Library of pre-configured chart-of-accounts templates. Applying a template creates the template’s accounts in your current organization in a single action and is safe to re-run — accounts whose numbers already exist are skipped.

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Available Templates

Template IDNameSourceBest for
samhsa-behavioral-healthSAMHSA Behavioral HealthSAMHSAGrant-funded behavioral-health organizations reporting against SAMHSA grant cost categories (personnel, fringe, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, occupancy, indirect, other direct).
behavioral-health-baselineBehavioral Health BaselineEncoreGeneral-purpose CoA for BH and recovery-housing organizations. Includes payer-split AR (Medicaid / Commercial / Self-Pay), payroll clearing, employer-tax and benefit-withholding payables, Resident Trust (PNA) liability, contractual adjustments (contra-revenue), and bad debt.
hrsa-fqhc-behavioral-healthHRSA / FQHC Behavioral HealthHRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care UDS ManualHRSA Section 330 grantees, FQHCs, and FQHC look-alikes operating BH programs. Includes HRSA grants receivable, sliding-fee discounts (contra-revenue), 340B drug program revenue and inventory, in-kind contributions, and HRSA UDS Table 5 personnel categories (clinical / enabling services / administrative).
recovery-housing-narrRecovery Housing (NARR-aligned)NARR National Standard 3.0Recovery housing operators across NARR Levels I–IV. Includes per-level program-fee revenue, scholarship income / scholarships granted (contra-revenue), security/move-in deposits payable, Resident Trust (PNA) liability, occupancy by site, food/household, peer-support stipends, and house-manager compensation. Add jurisdiction-specific certification (e.g., AzRHA in Arizona) via PF-96.
medicaid-bh-practiceMedicaid Behavioral Health PracticeEncore (PM-aligned)Outpatient BH practices billing state Medicaid (e.g., AHCCCS in Arizona via PF-96), Medicare, and commercial insurance. Includes payer-split AR, allowance for doubtful accounts (contra-asset), capitation/PMPM revenue (PM-33 aligned), service-line FFS revenue (OP/IOP/PHP/MAT/Telehealth), contractual adjustments and charity-care write-offs (contra-revenue), clearinghouse/EDI fees, EHR/PM software, credentialing.
nonprofit-ucoa-baselineNonprofit Baseline (UCOA-aligned)NCCS Unified Chart of AccountsAny 501(c)(3) starting from a Form-990-mappable baseline. Account descriptions reference the corresponding Form 990 lines (Part VIII Statement of Revenue and Part IX Statement of Functional Expenses).
sober-living-single-houseSober Living - Single House OperatorEncoreSingle-house sober living operators not yet operating with formal nonprofit fund accounting. Minimal ~17 accounts including PNA liability and security deposits payable. Migrate to recovery-housing-narr as the operator grows into multi-house, certified, or licensed status.
All built-in templates use FASB ASU 2016-14 (ASC 958-205) net-asset terminology — Net Assets Without Donor Restrictions and Net Assets With Donor Restrictions — rather than the legacy “Unrestricted / Temporarily Restricted / Permanently Restricted” classes.

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Applying a Template

  1. Navigate to Finance → Chart of Accounts.
  2. Open the Templates action.
  3. Review each template card: name, source badge, account count, description.
  4. Click Apply.
  5. Confirm in the dialog. The system inserts the template’s accounts into your organization in chunks and reports the result as a toast: Template applied. N accounts created. M already existed.
The apply flow is org-scoped, runs as a finance-admin action, and writes audit fields (created_by, created_at) on every new account.

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Idempotency

  • Re-running Apply on the same template is safe — accounts whose account_number already exists are skipped.
  • This makes templates safe to use both for greenfield setup and for incrementally extending an existing CoA with template-aligned accounts.

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Customizing After Applying

After applying a template:
  1. Add organization-specific accounts.
  2. Create additional sub-accounts.
  3. Link accounts to funds.
  4. Configure department requirements.
  5. Set up default posting rules.

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Saving Your CoA as a Custom Template

Once you’ve configured your chart of accounts the way you want it, you can save the current state as a custom template that other users in your organization can apply to bring up new tenants, sites, or test environments quickly.
  1. Navigate to Finance → Chart of Accounts.
  2. Open the Templates action.
  3. Click Save current CoA as template.
  4. Enter a name (and optional description); choose whether to include active funds and active programs alongside the accounts.
  5. Click Save template. The new custom template appears in the same Apply Template list, distinguished from built-ins by a “Custom” badge.
Custom templates are scoped to your organization (other organizations cannot see or apply them). They capture only active items — inactive accounts, funds, and programs are excluded so saved templates don’t carry stale entries.

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Apply-Template Audit Trail

Every Apply Template action — for both built-in and custom templates — writes one row to the fa_template_applications audit table recording the template id, name, source, who applied it, when, and counts of accounts/funds/programs created and skipped. Built-in template applies use the template’s kebab-case id (e.g., samhsa-behavioral-health); custom-template applies use the db:<uuid> id prefix so reports can cleanly distinguish source.

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Quick Reference — Standard Number Ranges

RangeAccount classExamples
1000–1999AssetsCash (operating, payroll, restricted, reserve), AR (Medicaid / Commercial / Self-Pay), fixed assets, accumulated depreciation (contra-asset)
2000–2999LiabilitiesAP, accrued payroll, Resident Trust (PNA), payroll clearing, employer payroll tax payable, health-insurance payable, 401(k) withholding payable, refunds payable, long-term debt
3000–3999Net assetsNet Assets Without Donor Restrictions, Net Assets With Donor Restrictions
4000–4999RevenueResident program fees, insurance reimbursements, contractual adjustments (contra-revenue), grants, donations
5000–5999ExpensesSalaries, benefits, occupancy, utilities, food/supplies, transportation, professional services, depreciation, 1099 contractor expense, bad debt expense

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Integration with Other Modules

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Forms & Workflow (FW)

  • Use forms for budget requests
  • Workflow approvals for large expenses
  • Automated posting from form submissions

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Recovery Housing (RH)

  • Bill resident fees by program
  • Track revenue by site/facility
  • Allocate operating costs

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Workforce & HR (HR)

  • Payroll expense allocation
  • Department-based labor costs
  • Employee benefit tracking

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Troubleshooting

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Common Issues

Can’t Post to Account
  • Check allows_posting is enabled
  • Verify period is open
  • Ensure account is active
Fund Required Error
  • Account has requires_fund enabled
  • Select fund on transaction
  • Or update account settings
Period Locked
  • Period has been permanently locked
  • Contact admin to review
  • Post to current period instead
Department Not Available
  • Department may be inactive
  • Check parent department is active
  • Verify organizational hierarchy

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Reporting

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Standard Reports

  • Trial Balance: All account balances
  • Fund Balance Report: By fund type
  • Department P&L: Revenue and expenses by dept
  • Program Analysis: Program-level profitability
  • Period Comparison: Month-over-month trends

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Custom Reports

Use the Reports module to create custom financial reports with:
  • Account filters
  • Fund groupings
  • Department breakdowns
  • Program summaries
  • Date range comparisons

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Security & Permissions

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Role-Based Access

Finance Admin (finance_admin)
  • Full CoA management
  • Create/edit accounts, funds, departments
  • Manage fiscal periods
  • Lock/unlock periods
Finance Staff (finance_staff)
  • View all financial data
  • Post journal entries
  • Run reports
  • Cannot modify structure
Staff (staff)
  • View assigned accounts
  • Department-level access
  • Limited reporting
Org Admin (org_admin)
  • All finance permissions
  • System configuration
  • User management

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Next Steps

  1. Set up your Chart of Accounts
    • Load starter CoA or create custom
    • Configure account hierarchy
    • Link to funds and departments
  2. Create Funds
    • Add grants and contracts
    • Document restrictions
    • Set up default accounts
  3. Build Department Structure
    • Organize hierarchically
    • Assign cost centers
    • Link programs
  4. Configure Fiscal Periods
    • Create fiscal years
    • Open current period
    • Establish close procedures
  5. Ready for FA-02: Journal Entries
    • Begin posting transactions
    • Track account balances
    • Run financial reports
For Technical Support: Contact your system administrator For Training: See FA module documentation in docs/fa/ For API Access: See FA module specifications in specs/fa/