---
title: Default G/L Settings
description: Choose the default G/L accounts used for items, receivables, payables, tax, and banking.
url: "https://theasst.com/docs/default-g-l-settings/"
updated: "2026-10-06"
category: Setup / Accounting Setup
---

# Default G/L Settings

Default G/L Settings picks which [G/L Accounts](https://theasst.com/docs/g-l-accounts/) TBA uses automatically for routine transactions -- item sales, receivables, payables, sales tax, and banking. Most of these can still be overridden per item if needed.

![Default General Ledger Settings table with Item Info, Receivables, Payables, Tax, and Banking sections](https://theasst.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/glassign.webp)

## Getting Started

Click **Use Default Accounts** to fill in every role with a sensible default in one click, then review or change any of them before saving. If an account you need doesn't exist yet, click **+ Add New G/L Account** to create it without leaving the page.

## Key Roles

- **Item Info** -- COGS, sold/rental revenue, inventory asset, inventory adjustment.
- **Receivables** / **Payables** -- the AR/AP control accounts, plus write-off accounts.
- **Tax** -- the sales tax liability account.
- **Banking** -- your default bank account, credit card liability, and Undeposited Funds (where client payments land until [Deposits](https://theasst.com/docs/deposits/) batches them to the bank).

## Every Setting

The page is a table: **Section**, **Name**, the **G/L Account** to choose, and a **Description**. Pick an account for each row and click **Save**. **Refresh Data** in the sidebar reloads the account lists after you add accounts elsewhere. **Open the full chart of accounts** shows [G/L Accounts](https://theasst.com/docs/g-l-accounts/) in a new window.

### Item Info

- **COGS** — Cost of Goods Sold, the default expense when you sell an item.
- **Sold revenue** — the default income account for items and services you sell.
- **Rental revenue** — the default income account for items you rent out.
- **Reimbursed expense revenue** — income for expenses billed back to a client at cost (for example imported QuickBooks invoice lines with no item). Leave blank to use Sold revenue.
- **Inventory asset** — the default asset account for stock on hand.
- **Client special order asset** — the asset account for items you ordered for a client and now have in your possession.
- **Inventory adjustment** — the offsetting account for inventory added manually (not received on a [Bill](https://theasst.com/docs/bills/)) or otherwise adjusted.

### Receivables and Payables

- **Accounts Receivable** and **Accounts Payable** — the control accounts that [invoices](https://theasst.com/docs/invoices/) and [bills](https://theasst.com/docs/bills/) post to.
- **AR write-off** — the bad debt expense account. **AP write-off** — where write-offs and discounts taken on bills go.
- **Vendor deposits** — an asset account for prepayments you make against a PO before its bill exists.

### Tax, Banking, and Year-End

- **Sales tax liability** — where collected [sales tax](https://theasst.com/docs/sales-tax/) is recorded.
- **Default bank account** and **Credit card liability** — the defaults for receipts and payments.
- **Undeposited funds** — where client payments wait until a [Deposit](https://theasst.com/docs/deposits/) batches them to the bank.
- **Default deposit fee account** — the expense account for bank or processor fees taken out of a deposit. **Default Connect fee account** — the same for Stripe fees when you reconcile a payout (see [Payment Processing](https://theasst.com/docs/payment-processing/)).
- **Retained earnings** — used by the year-end closing entry (see [Fiscal Year and Year-End Closing](https://theasst.com/docs/fiscal-year-and-year-end-closing/)).
- **Unearned revenue** — the liability account for deferred revenue.

### Miscellaneous (how reports look)

- **Show negative amounts** — Yes shows negatives with a sign; No shows the amount in the opposite debit/credit column instead.
- **Use parentheses** — Yes shows negatives as (100.00); No uses a minus sign.
- **Show page numbers** — adds page numbers to the bottom of financial reports.
- **Show/use GL account numbers** — the company-wide default for whether account numbers appear throughout TBA. Each person can override it on their own preferences page.