What are Trading Accounts?
Trading accounts are a way of separating profit and loss items into a separate reporting section. This is primarily used for sales trading and livestock trading. Trading accounts are set up on a per entity file basis.
A simple Trading Account example report layout is as follows: 
This style of report is generated automatically when creating the report by allocating an account to a trading account. There are three steps in this process:
- Creating a Trading Account classification (see below)
- Allocating an account to a Trading Account classification (see below)
- Producing a Report with separate Trading Account report settings (see the knowledge article: Reporting - Creating a Report).
1. Creating a Trading Account classification
To create a new Trading Account navigate to Trading Accounts, from the File Settings menu, from any screen within the client file as shown below.
You will be directed to a screen with a list of all available trading accounts. To create a new one, select +New Trading Account.
Complete the following details and select Add Trading Account in order to add the Trading Account to the client file.
Note: If the 'Primary Production' checkbox is ticked, another checkbox will appear for you to indicate whether the Trading Account is also a 'Livestock' account.
2. Allocating an account to a Trading Account classification
To allocate an account to a Trading Account navigate to the accounts screen and edit an account by selecting the edit button to the right as shown below:
On the account edit screen, select the required Trading Account from the drop-down list.
Note: There are two options, you can either select the default behaviour of the account or select the behaviour of a single account. This is useful for sub-accounts or linked accounts that may have different properties.
Note: An account can be added to both a Division and a Trading Account. This allows you the most flexibility when reporting. For more information on Divisions see the knowledge article: Accounts - Divisions.
After editing the account select the Save Account button, the account has now been allocated to that Trading Account for the purpose of reporting.
Next article: Accounts - Opening Balances