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How to add an account (ledger) in Smart Books

Create a ledger account for a customer, supplier, bank or expense, with an optional opening balance and tax details.

Level: beginner · Updated 26 Oct 2026

Before you start

What an account is

In Smart Books, an account (also called a ledger) is a named record that your entries are posted to, such as a customer, a supplier, a bank or an expense. You create an account once and then pick it in your vouchers.

Before you start

  • Open the company you want to work in.
  • Check the list first. Typing the name in the search box (it searches name, code, GSTIN, PAN and mobile) helps you avoid a duplicate.
  • If you plan to enter an opening balance, make sure the right financial year is selected in the company header. The opening balance is saved for that financial year.

Create the account

  1. Select Masters in the menu, then Accounts.
  2. Select Add Account.
  3. Under General, type the Ledger name. It is required.
  4. Choose the Account group. It is required. If you tick Assign under predefined reporting group, the field becomes Reporting group and the standard groups, such as Capital Account, Bank Accounts and Sundry Debtors, are listed first. You can still search for your own sub-groups.
  5. Fill in Alias, Ledger code, Print / mailing name or Notes if you want them.

If you forget the group, you will see Please select an account group. If a field has a mistake, such as a badly formatted PAN, Smart Books shows Please fix validation errors before saving and marks the field.

Add an opening balance

If the account already had a balance when the year began, enter the Amount under Opening balance and choose the Balance type: Debit (Dr) or Credit (Cr). For a customer or supplier, you can tick Bill-by-bill under Credit & billing to enter the balance as individual bills.

Add contact, tax and bank details

The Contact & address section holds the contact person, mobile, phone, email, address, city, state, PIN code and country. The Statutory & tax section holds the GSTIN, GST registration type, PAN and MSME / Udyam number, along with TDS settings. For party accounts you can also set a credit limit and credit days, and for bank accounts you can enter the account number, IFSC, bank name and branch.

Save, edit or delete

When you save, you will see Account created. To change an account later, open it from the list; the page is then called Edit Account and you will see Account updated after saving. You can also set Active to No to stop using an account.

To remove an account, use the delete option on the Edit Account page and confirm Delete this account?. Smart Books will not delete an account that has voucher entries linked to it, and system-generated accounts cannot be deleted.

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Steps

  1. Select Masters from the top menu (Alt+M), then Accounts. The page lists your existing accounts and has a search box.
  2. Select Add Account. The Add Account page opens.
  3. Under General, type the Ledger name. This is required. Add an Alias, Ledger code or Print / mailing name only if you need them.
  4. Choose the Account group, for example where the ledger belongs in your reports. This is required. Tick Assign under predefined reporting group to see the standard groups first.
  5. Under Opening balance, type the Amount and choose the Balance type, Debit (Dr) or Credit (Cr). Leave it empty if the account starts at zero.
  6. Fill in Contact & address and Statutory & tax, such as GSTIN and PAN, if the account is for a customer or supplier.
  7. Save the form. A message says Account created and the account appears in the list.

Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Contact support or ask in the community.