What is a chart of accounts?

A chart of accounts is the numbered list of every financial category your studio uses — things like Tuition Income, Rent Expense, or Cash. Every journal entry line posts to one of these accounts, which is how transactions roll up into reports.

Account types

Accounts fall into five types. Asset accounts track what you own (cash, accounts receivable). Liability accounts track what you owe (sales tax payable, refunds due). Equity accounts represent the owner's stake in the business. Income accounts record revenue (tuition, testing fees). Expense accounts record costs (rent, supplies, payroll).

System accounts

MyDojang pre-creates a set of system accounts (e.g., 1000 Cash, 4000 Tuition Income). These accounts are used by automatic billing entries and cannot be renumbered or deleted. You can rename them if your preferred terminology differs.

Adding a custom account

Go to Accounting > Chart of Accounts and click 'Add Account'. Choose the account type, enter a number (must be unique), and give it a name. Use the standard numbering convention: 1000s for Assets, 2000s for Liabilities, 3000s for Equity, 4000s for Income, 5000s for Expenses.

Renaming or editing an account

Click the edit icon next to any account to change its name or description. System accounts allow name edits but not number changes. Custom accounts can have both the name and number changed as long as the number remains unique.

Deleting a custom account

Custom accounts that have never been used in a journal entry can be deleted. Accounts with posted transactions cannot be deleted — this preserves your audit history. Rename or deactivate the account instead.

Double-entry basics

Every journal entry has at least two lines, and the total debits must equal the total credits. Debits increase asset and expense accounts; credits increase liability, equity, and income accounts. This rule ensures your books always stay in balance.

Navigate to Journal Entries

Go to Accounting > Journal Entries and click 'New Entry'. Enter a date and a description that explains why you're making the entry.

Add entry lines

Click 'Add Line' to add each leg of the entry. For each line, pick an account from the chart of accounts, then enter either a debit amount or a credit amount (not both). Add as many lines as needed — complex entries can have more than two.

Imbalance indicator

A running total at the bottom of the form shows the difference between total debits and total credits. The entry cannot be saved until this difference is zero. If you see a red imbalance warning, check your amounts for typos.

When to create manual entries

Manual entries are appropriate for year-end closing entries, corrections to auto-generated entries, depreciation adjustments, owner contributions or withdrawals, and any transaction that isn't captured by the billing system automatically.

What triggers automatic entries?

MyDojang creates journal entries automatically when key billing events occur so you don't have to post them manually. These entries use the system accounts from your chart of accounts.

Member billing becomes ACTIVE

When a MemberBilling record transitions to ACTIVE (i.e., a student's recurring plan is confirmed), an entry is generated: debit Cash (1000) and credit Tuition Income (4000) for the plan amount.

Ad-hoc charge is marked PAID

When an AdHocCharge is marked PAID (manually or via Stripe webhook), an entry is generated: debit Cash (1000) and credit the appropriate income account for the charge category (e.g., Testing Fee Income, Merchandise Income).

Stripe payout and fee events

When Stripe sends a payout to your bank or deducts processing fees, corresponding entries are posted automatically to keep your Cash balance accurate and capture payment processing costs.

Editing auto-generated entries

Auto-generated entries can be edited (date, description, lines), but the system will show a confirmation dialog before saving since editing them may cause your ledger to diverge from the source billing records. Make changes carefully.

Editing an entry

Click the expand arrow on any journal entry row to open the detail view. Click 'Edit' to change the date, description, or individual line amounts. Save when done. The original entry is updated in place and the change is recorded in the audit trail.

Voiding an entry

To undo a posted entry without deleting it, click 'Void' on the entry detail view. MyDojang creates a new reversal entry with every debit and credit flipped — this effectively cancels the financial impact. The original entry is marked as Voided.

Why void instead of delete?

Voiding preserves the full audit history. Both the original entry and the reversal remain visible in the ledger, so you can always see what happened and why. Deleted entries disappear and leave no trace.

Audit trail

Expand any journal entry row to see the audit trail: who created it, when it was last modified, and whether it was auto-generated or manually created. Voided entries also link to their reversal entry.

Navigate to Accounting > Reports

Go to Accounting > Reports to access all financial reports. Choose a report type and set the date range or as-of date before generating.

Income Statement

The Income Statement (also called a Profit & Loss) shows all income and expense accounts for a selected date range. Total revenue minus total expenses equals your net income for the period.

Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet shows your Assets, Liabilities, and Equity at a specific point in time. Assets should equal Liabilities plus Equity. Choose an as-of date to see a snapshot of your studio's financial position.

Trial Balance

The Trial Balance lists every account with its cumulative debit and credit totals. It is useful for verifying that your ledger is in balance and for spotting accounts with unexpected balances before preparing other reports.

Exporting to CSV

Any report can be exported to CSV using the 'Export CSV' button. The file includes all rows and columns shown on screen and can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, or imported into accounting software.

What is retained earnings?

Retained earnings (account 3900) represents the accumulated net income from all prior periods that has been kept in the business rather than paid out. On a traditional balance sheet it automatically grows each year as the business earns profit.

v1 limitation

In the current version, account 3900 starts at zero. The balance sheet does not automatically carry forward net income from previous years. This means your balance sheet equity section will appear lower than expected until you post a closing entry.

What is a closing entry?

A closing entry transfers the net income from a period into retained earnings. At year-end, total your income accounts (credits) and expense accounts (debits) for the year. The difference is your net income. Create a manual journal entry: debit each income account for its year-end balance, credit each expense account for its year-end balance, and debit or credit account 3900 Retained Earnings for the net difference. This resets the income and expense accounts to zero for the new year and rolls the profit into equity.

When to post the closing entry

Post the closing entry once per year, after you have verified that all transactions for the year are recorded. A good time is the first few days of January after reconciling December's billing. After posting, your Balance Sheet equity will reflect the correct accumulated earnings.