Zoho Books Groups · Track 1 · Tutorial 3 of 3

Build the group chart from a Zoho company

If one of your Zoho Books companies already has the chart you want the group to report on, you don’t need to build a group chart from scratch. Copy that company’s chart into the Common COA, and that company is mapped in the same step. Only the other companies are left to map.

You will needYour companies connected to Zoho Books, as in Connect each Zoho Books organisation, with an empty Common COA. Data administrator access in BrizoConsol.

By the endA Common COA copied from North Pte Ltd’s Zoho chart, with North, South and East all mapped to it.

1Choose the company to copy from

Your Group has three Zoho Books companies: North Pte Ltd, South Pte Ltd and East Sdn Bhd. North is the largest and has the most complete chart, so its chart becomes the group’s.

North Pte Ltd’s Zoho chart is copied into the Common COA, which also maps North; South and East are then mapped to it in Account Mapping — Copying the chart also maps North, so only South and East are left to map.

Copying is the quickest route when one company’s chart already suits group reporting. Two other options work differently:

Start from Existing Organisation	Copies the chart of a company already in your group, and maps that company to it. Used in this tutorial.
Import from Connector	Signs in to Zoho Books and imports the chart of the Zoho organisation you choose. Use it when the chart you want is in a Zoho organisation that isn’t one of your companies here. It replaces the whole Common COA, imports the chart only, and maps nothing.
AI Suggest	Drafts a group chart from all your companies’ accounts when none of them has the right chart. See Map every company to one group chart of accounts.

2Tidy the chart in Zoho Books first

The copy takes North’s accounts as they are in BrizoConsol, which is how they came from Zoho. Fix these in Zoho Books before you copy, because the copy is made once and does not follow later changes.

Account codes	Zoho accounts don’t need a code. When one has none, BrizoConsol uses its Zoho account ID as the code — a long number that would then appear in your group chart and reports. Give North’s accounts codes in Zoho.
Share capital	An equity account whose name contains Share Capital, Common Stock, Preferred Stock or Ordinary Shares gets the type SHARE.
Retained earnings	Zoho shows retained earnings as a calculated line, so the account arrives as plain equity. An equity account named Retained Earnings or Accumulated Loss gets that type, which the balance sheet’s retained-earnings section reads.

Changes you make in Zoho arrive with the next load: the nightly refresh, or a load you start from North’s Data Loading page.

Each Zoho account type comes in under a matching section — for example Income as REVENUE, Cost of Goods Sold as DIRECT COSTS, Other Current Asset as CURRENT ASSET, and Long Term Liability as NON CURRENT LIABILITY.

3Copy North’s chart into the Common COA

Select Your Group in the entity selector.
Open Settings → Global Settings → Common COA. While it is empty, it shows No accounts in your COA yet.
Click Start from Existing Organisation.
In Source organisation, choose North Pte Ltd, then click Copy Accounts.

Start from Existing Organisation dialog: choose North Pte Ltd as the source organisation, then Copy Accounts — Choose the source company (1), then copy (2).

The copy brings across each account’s code, name, section and type, and its tags. In the same step, each of North’s accounts is mapped to its copy, so North needs no mapping.

A company that has no accounts yet is listed with (No COA) and can’t be chosen. Load it first.

4Check the group chart

The Common COA now lists North’s 42 accounts, with the same codes and names it has in Zoho Books.

Share Capital and Retained Earnings carry their own types (1).

Read down the Section column. Fix any account in the wrong section with the edit icon on its row — see Account Sections / Class.
Add any account the group needs that North doesn’t have with the + button — for example a revenue line only East uses.

Check

Codes are short codes, not long Zoho IDs, and Share Capital and Retained Earnings show the types SHARE and RETAINED EARNINGS.

5Map South and East

Open Settings → Global Settings → Account Mapping. Unmapped organisations lists South and East, but not North.
Choose South Pte Ltd. Click BrizoMap, then Get Suggestions; untick any wrong suggestion and click Confirm & Map.
Tick Show unmapped only, choose a group account or - Ignore for each account left, and click Save.
Repeat for East Sdn Bhd.

South’s chart is likely close to North’s, so most suggestions will be High. East’s chart was set up separately in Malaysia, with different codes and names — Trade Debtors rather than Accounts Receivable — so check its Medium and Low suggestions carefully.

Account Mapping for East Sdn Bhd: every account mapped to the Common COA or ignored, and Unmapped organisations shows All mapped — Every company is mapped (1), and East’s own accounts point at North’s codes (2).

BrizoMap isn’t on the Standard edition. There, map each account from its dropdown.

Later, when you connect another Zoho company, or a company’s load brings in accounts that aren’t mapped, Data Loading asks New accounts need mapping. Go to Mapping opens that company in Account Mapping and, outside Standard, runs BrizoMap straight away.

Check

Unmapped organisations shows All mapped, and no account-type warning is shown.

6If something goes wrong

Start from Existing Organisation is greyed out	No company has accounts yet. Load at least one company from Zoho Books first.
Common COA already has accounts. Clear existing accounts before copying from an organisation.	The copy only fills an empty Common COA. Delete the existing accounts, or keep them and map North in Account Mapping instead.
The selected company does not have accounts to copy.	That company’s chart hasn’t loaded. Open its Data Loading page and load a period.
Long numbers as account codes	The accounts had no code in Zoho Books. Add codes in Zoho, load North again, and edit the codes in the Common COA to match.
Retained earnings missing from the balance sheet section	The account isn’t named Retained Earnings or Accumulated Loss. Rename it in Zoho or set its type in the Common COA.

Want more detail? See the documentation

Common Chart of Accounts Account Mapping Chart of Accounts Setup Options & Account Status Connecting an Entity to Zoho Books

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