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The Partner or Sole trader current & capital account allocation account template is applied directly to individual current-account and capital-account nominal ledger accounts, and is where the underlying transactions behind those accounts are broken down and categorised, one line at a time. It works out automatically, from the account it is attached to, whether it is dealing with a current account, a capital account, a land and property capital account, or an additional capital account, and offers the right set of categories for that account type. It is the account-level detail that feeds the "Accounts analysis" workflow option on the Sole trader current accounts, Sole trader capital accounts, Partner current accounts and Partner capital accounts templates.

Table of contents 

When should I use this template?

Apply it to any current-account or capital-account nominal ledger account, for a sole trader or a partnership, where you want to build up the working papers from individually tagged transactions rather than from trial balance totals as a whole. It is only relevant if Accounts analysis has been selected as the workflow option on the corresponding Sole trader or Partner current/capital accounts template. If Mapped has been selected instead, applying this template to an account has no effect beyond an info-text confirming that no details are required.

Before you start

  • Set the client's legal form (sole trader or partnership) on [Unincorporated] General settings, or at company level if working papers only. The template shows a warning and will not process any data until the legal form is set.
  • For a partnership, complete the partner list on the Partners template first, since this template reads partner names from there to offer as options.
  • Decide the workflow option (Accounts analysis or Mapped) on the relevant Sole trader or Partner current/capital accounts template. This template is only active when Accounts analysis is selected for the side of the accounts (current or capital) the account belongs to.

Background: how the allocation works

Rather than asking you to categorise a current or capital account's whole trial balance movement in one go, this template lets you list the account's individual transactions and tag each one with the category it belongs to, for example "Drawings", "Pension contributions", or "Transfer to capital account". The template first works out which type of account it is sitting on, based on the account's mapped number:

  • Current account range: offers current account categories - opening balance, funds introduced, drawings, private use items, life assurance, health insurance, pension (or superannuation, for medical clients) contributions, retirement annuity contributions, national insurance contributions, tax, transfer between partners, and transfers to or from the capital, land and property, and additional capital accounts.
  • Capital account range: offers capital account categories - opening balance, capital introduced, repayment of capital, transfer between partners, and transfers to or from the current account.
  • Land and property capital account range: offers a matching set of categories for land and property capital movements.
  • Additional capital account range: offers a matching set of categories for additional capital movements.

If the account does not fall into any of these ranges, a warning explains that the template should only be used on current or capital accounts.

For a partnership, salary, interest on capital and profit-share amounts are excluded from tagging here. Those figures come from the Partners template instead, unless the Partners template's profit-split method is set to Mapped, in which case an info-text explains that no entry is needed on this account either, because those figures are then picked up directly from the trial balance.

Step 1: Select the partner (partnerships only)

For a partnership with more than one active partner, a dropdown at the top lets you allocate every transaction on the account to a single partner in one go (Allocate all to a single partner). This is useful where an account is wholly attributable to one person. If left blank, each transaction row instead carries its own partner selector (Step 2). Partner names are drawn from the Partners template's partner list. A sole trader skips this step entirely, since there is only one owner.

Step 2: Enter each transaction

For each underlying transaction or balance on the account, enter:

  • Description: free text describing the item.
  • Attachment: an optional supporting file.
  • Value: the amount (currency).
  • Partner: for a partnership only, and only where a single partner has not already been selected for the whole account in Step 1.
  • Category: a dropdown of the categories relevant to this account type (see Background above). The template suggests a default category based on the account's own mapped number, and for transfer categories, the sign of the account's balance decides whether "to" or "from" is suggested by default.
  • Comments: an optional free-text note.

A running total across all rows is compared against the account's trial balance value, and any difference is flagged with an unreconciled indicator showing the account value, the template's total, and the difference.

What flows through to the rest of the accounts / workflow?

  • Each category's total (and, for partnerships, each partner's share of it) becomes a result that the corresponding Sole trader or Partner current/capital accounts template picks up and displays as that category's figure, wherever Accounts analysis is selected.
  • The account itself is linked back to from an info-text on the current/capital accounts template, so you can trace a category's total back to every account that contributed to it.
  • Transfer categories tagged here also feed the cross-check between current and capital accounts (and land and property or additional capital accounts, where used), so a transfer coded on this account should be matched by an equal and opposite entry on the account it was transferred to or from.

What rolls forward next year?

  • The transactions entered on this account template do not roll forward as a list. Each year's postings are entered fresh against that year's trial balance movements, since they represent the year's own transactions rather than a running balance.
  • The partner selected for the account (or per transaction) is not itself rolled forward as a stored choice, though the underlying partner list it draws from persists via the Partners template.

Where the data comes from

  • Trial balance: the account's own mapped number determines which category set is offered and suggests a default category and transfer direction; the account's value is what the template's running total is reconciled against.
  • Partners template: supplies the partner list (name and persistent record) offered in the partner selector, for partnerships.
  • [Unincorporated] General settings (or company-level legal form): determines whether the account is treated as belonging to a sole trader or a partnership, which in turn determines whether a partner column is shown at all.
  • Sole trader / Partner current or capital accounts template: determines, via its workflow-option setting, whether this account template is active (Accounts analysis) or dormant (Mapped) for the side of the accounts the account belongs to.

Frequently asked questions

I have applied this template to an account but nothing happens, why?

Check the workflow option on the relevant current/capital accounts template (Sole trader or Partner). If Mapped is selected, this account template shows an info-text and takes no further input, because figures are being pulled from trial balance ranges directly instead.

Why is there no category for salary or interest on capital?

Those are appropriated per partner on the Partners template rather than tagged per transaction here, unless the Partners template's profit-split method is set to Mapped, in which case an info-text confirms no entry is needed on this account either.

Why do I only see a "Partner" column on some clients and not others?

The partner column only appears for partnerships. Sole traders have a single owner, so there is nothing to allocate between people. The value and category columns are all that is needed.

The template shows a warning that it is on the wrong type of account, what does that mean?

The account's mapped number does not fall within the current, capital, land and property, or additional capital account ranges this template expects. Double-check the account is mapped correctly, or switch to a different account template if it is not a current/capital account at all.