Chart of Accounts: a critical Element of the Public Financial Management Framework; by Julie Cooper and Sailendra Pattanayak; imf technical Notes and Manuals tnm/11/03; October 17, 2011

Basic guidelines for a computerized COA
The way a COA is designed and the IFMIS configured is critical to the effectiveness of 
the accounting and financial reporting system.
The COA is the hub of any IFMIS. While 
the business/user needs analysis is a critical element to developing a COA and several under-
lying principles should be followed (see Section III), the following issues need to be specifi-
cally considered in the context of developing/redesigning the COA for an IFMIS (i) establish-
ing one global/unified chart of accounts; (ii) using simple and basic logic and limiting the 
number of accounts; (iii) deciding the accounting basis – cash, accrual or in transition (from 
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A. Khan and M. Pessoa (2010).

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cash to accrual); (iv) understanding and using the vast functionality of modern computer 
systems; and (v) scalability to provide room for future growth. 
Creating a global or a
unified COA establishes a foundation for consistency in termi-
nology and serves to eliminate redundant accounts.
It provides a basis for consistency in 
budget and accounting policies and procedures, including terminology used across govern-
ment. Moreover, IFMIS being an integrated system with various modules of software to cater 
to specific functional requirements, its functionalities are provided in a coordinated manner 
based on the same global/unified COA. The data captured in one module are used in others, 
thereby eliminating duplicate data entry and reducing the occurrence of errors. Moreover, 
consolidation of individual budget entities into one whole-of-government reporting entity can 
be largely automated and simplified if a global/unified COA is used.
In cases where individual government organizations are allowed to implement their