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The Partner capital accounts template summarises each partner's capital account movements for the year: capital introduced, capital repaid, transfers between partners, and transfers to and from the current account, reconciled to the trial balance.

Table of contents 

When should I use this template?

Use it for any unincorporated trading partnership working-paper file, alongside the Partners template. It only appears once the client's legal form is set to partnership; it is hidden automatically for sole traders and LLPs.

Before you start

  • Set up the Partners template first: add every partner and their appointed/resigned dates. This template reads that list and column order directly.
  • If you use the Partner current accounts template's Mapped option, the partner-to-column mapping you set up there is reused here, so there is no need to repeat it.

Background: capital accounts vs current accounts

A partner's capital account is normally the more stable of their two records. It moves only when capital is put in or taken out, or transferred between partners or to and from the current account, rather than with every year's trading activity. Trading activity, meaning profit share, salary, drawings and similar, is handled instead by the Partner current accounts template.

Two further templates, Partner additional capital accounts and Partner land and property capital accounts, hold separate capital pools for additional capital contributions and for partners' land and property capital respectively. This template is specifically the main capital account, and is the only one of the three with a transfer-between-partners line, since it is the account most often used to rebalance partners' capital shares.

Step 1: Choose the workflow option

At the top of the table is the same Accounts analysis / Mapped dropdown used on the Partner current accounts template. It is one shared setting, so choosing it here also sets it there and on the other two capital-type templates. Accounts analysis reads figures from the account template used on each posting, which already identifies the partner; Mapped is for files where postings sit in fixed account ranges rather than being tagged to a partner, and you assign each column to a partner yourself. If Mapped is already selected in the Partners template's profit-allocation dropdown, this template is locked to Mapped.

Step 2: Review the Accounts analysis table

Each active partner gets a column, with rows for: opening balance, capital introduced, repayment of capital, transfer between partners, transfer to current account, and transfer from current account, followed by the closing balance. A row only appears if at least one partner has a non-zero value in it. Transfer descriptions are editable free text (defaulting to a sensible label) so you can note what a transfer relates to.

The transfer-between-partners row should net to nil across all partners. If it does not, an unreconciled indicator appears, since one partner's outward transfer should be matched by another's inward transfer.

Step 3: Review the Mapped table (if selected)

In Mapped mode, each column is a fixed account range rather than a named partner, so you choose which partner each column represents from a dropdown, the same selection used on the Partner current accounts template. The same categories are shown, each read from its own account range, and a warning appears if the number of mapped accounts does not match the number of active partners.

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

  • Feeds the capital account balances shown in the accounts notes.
  • Transfers to and from the current account here are cross-checked against the matching lines on the Partner current accounts template.

What rolls forward next year?

  • Each partner's closing balance becomes next year's opening balance.
  • In Mapped mode, the account-to-partner column mapping carries forward (shared with the current accounts template).
  • The workflow option is re-evaluated each year rather than fixed, based on whether the Partners template's profit split is mapped.

Where the data comes from

  • Partners template: partner list and appointed/resigned dates.
  • Trial balance: the account ranges for capital introduced, repayment of capital, transfers between partners, and transfers to and from the current account.
  • [Unincorporated] General settings - Partnership: legal form and rounding configuration.

Frequently asked questions

Why does changing the workflow option here also change it on the current accounts template?

It is a single shared setting across the current accounts template and all three capital-type templates, so partners are shown consistently everywhere.

Why is the transfer-between-partners row showing an unreconciled indicator?

That row should sum to nil across all partners: one partner's transfer out should match another's transfer in.

How is this different from the additional capital accounts or land and property capital accounts templates?

They are separate pools of capital tracked in their own account ranges. This template is the main capital account and is the only one of the three with a transfer-between-partners line. The Partner land and property capital accounts template additionally has a revaluation line that this one does not need, since it is not tracking a revalued asset.