Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

Start With the End Result - Taxes or Metrics #lawfirms #legalaccounting #chartofaccounts

20 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief dialogue, the speakers discuss how to design a chart of accounts by first defining the desired end result. If the primary goal is to prepare tax returns, the account structure should facilitate tax reporting. If the goal is to monitor business performance—such as spending, employee KPIs, class‑based metrics, collections, or billing—the chart should be organized to capture those metrics. They emphasize mind‑mapping the account layout with the end‑goal in mind, ensuring that the accounting system supports both tax compliance and operational insight.

Not specific to the chart of accounts, but it's part of the transaction entering that you're doing. So you have to mind map this out. Think of your end result. What is your end result? Is your end result to do a tax return? Then that's where you want to have it be. Is your end result also, how's your business doing? Where am I spending? Metrics. Then you need to have that in mind as well as you're starting to mind map out your chart of accounts.
That's good advice. Very good advice because some of them are very driven by the KPIs of employee, by class, by collections or billing or what have you.