Edit a GL account
Goal
Update a chart-of-accounts group or leaf without breaking system roles or history.
Who it is for
accounting.manage (browse with accounting.view).
Preconditions
Open Accounting → Chart of Accounts. Dialog title: Edit account / Edit group.
Steps
- Select the account or group → Edit.
- Update allowed fields: Name (translatable), Code (unless system-locked), Group under (a group of the same type; not the account itself or one of its sub-accounts), Cash flow category (P&L leaf: operating / investing / financing), Subtype (type-dependent), Currency (leaf; empty = tenant base), Inactive.
- Type can only change while the account has no sub-accounts and no journal lines; after that it is locked. System accounts keep code, type, and subtype locked. Codes stay unique per tenant and use letters, digits,
-and_. - Save.
Result
Posted journals keep historical lines; inactive accounts leave active pickers.
Hard stops
System account field locks. Type cannot change once the account has sub-accounts or journal lines; an account with journal lines cannot become a group, and a group with sub-accounts cannot become a posting account. Duplicate code or a parent that is not a group of the same type → 422. Delete is blocked for system accounts (system_account) and for any account still in use — journal lines, sub-accounts, bank accounts, control accounts, budgets, item and product-model account mappings, document lines, bank rules, POS settings, recurring journals, opening balances, expense claims, payroll components or a system-role mapping (account_referenced, with the list of references); invalid subtype → 422.