Chart of Accounts (GL Codes)

If your production tracks payroll spend against an accounting code — what some companies call "cost coding" — Greenroom's version is the chart of accounts, built from GL codes (short for general ledger codes). Set your codes up once, then optionally tag any pay rate or adjustment line with one so it lands in the right bucket in your books.

An Admin manages the chart of accounts and QuickBooks mapping. Admin and Payroll teammates can choose existing GL codes on payee rates and payroll lines. Approvers can read payroll coding but cannot edit it. If an uncoded payroll line needs its QuickBooks mapping confirmed, ask an Admin.

Setting up your chart of accounts

Go to Settings → Chart of accounts. Each code has three parts:

Add a row with Add code, edit any cell inline, and save everything at once with the save bar at the bottom of the page — nothing is written until you save. Deleting a code asks for confirmation first: past payroll lines that already used it keep their coding, but new lines can't select it anymore.

Importing a chart of accounts

If you're bringing in a chart of accounts from another system, you don't have to type codes in one at a time. On Settings → Chart of accounts, click Import CSV / XLSX to choose a file, or Paste rows to paste the code, name, and category columns straight from your spreadsheet (commas or tabs both work). Include a header row either way. The Template link downloads a three-column file (code, name, category) with one example row per category. Save or cancel any unsaved edits to the table first; the import buttons wait until you do.

Accepted files are .csv or .xlsx (first sheet only), up to 256 KB and 1,000 rows. Besides code, name, and category, the importer recognises the headers account or gl code for the code, account name for the name, and type for the category. In a workbook, a code cell formatted as a date, currency, or another number format Greenroom can't read back exactly stops the import with a message naming the cell; enter that code as text and import again. A workbook is compressed, so the rows read from it can be far larger than the file itself. If they're too large to send for review, the import stops with "Those rows are too large to send at once — split the file or shorten long cells." Split the rows into smaller files and import each one, or shorten the longest cells and import again.

Before anything is saved, Greenroom opens a Review import window with a verdict on every row:

Every row in the review window has its own Category dropdown, with what your file said shown beneath it, so you can pick a missing category or change any other one before importing.

Review import

Review each account and its category. You can change any category before importing. Existing codes update the saved account.

AccountCategoryReview

4310

AEA performance wages

Wages▾

From file: Wages

Will add

5200

Payroll processing fee

Fees & Services▾

From file: Fees & Services

Updates existing

Name: Payroll fee → Payroll processing fee

4420

Wardrobe maintenance

Wages▾

From file: Wages

Duplicate in file

Code 4420 appears more than once.

4420

Wardrobe maintenance

Wages▾

From file: Wages

Duplicate in file

Code 4420 appears more than once.

GL#620

Workers comp

Taxes & Fringe▾

From file: Taxes & Fringe

Invalid code

7100

Union benefits

Choose category▾

From file: Benefits

Choose a category

4 rows need attention. Choose missing categories here; fix other errors in your file and import again. Nothing saves until every row is ready.

CancelImport 6 codes

Coding a pay rate or adjustment line

Once you have a chart of accounts, a GL code picker appears next to each pay rate and each allowance or deduction line on a payee's Role & Pay sections, grouped by category with No GL code as the default. Coding is optional there — a payee can be fully payroll-ready with nothing coded at all.

Lines added on a payroll run are different. When your company has a chart of accounts, a new reimbursement added on the run must have a GL code, and so must a new allowance, taxable payment or contract pay line (Add payment line) until the row its uncoded lines post to is confirmed under Settings → QuickBooks: Expense — uncoded allowance lines for an allowance, and Expense — uncoded earning lines for a taxable payment or a contract pay line. To change a contract pay line you added by hand, expand the payee and choose Edit beside the line. You can change its name, amount, GL code, and Memo; the remove control beside it removes the line. A line already on the run can also be coded from the edit drawer on Payroll Summary. See Adding Employees and Vendors & Contractors.

Where the coding pays off

Each payroll run has a Coding summary (General ledger account totals) on its Payroll Summary step and on the run's own page. Open it to see your payroll dollars by GL code, in three columns (Wages, Fees & services, and Taxes), each with a subtotal. The last column reads Taxes & fringe when the run includes unions or has union amounts. Dollars without a GL code are listed as Uncoded in the column their kind belongs to, and a code that isn't in your chart of accounts shows as Uncataloged ([code]). Your chart of accounts also feeds the QuickBooks package: each GL code that shows up on a payroll line becomes its own row under Settings → QuickBooks (the column there is labelled Payroll amount), where you map it to a real account name from your production's QuickBooks file. Fixed payroll categories, such as withholding and employer tax, are mapped separately. Union categories appear when the company has union contracts or payroll history needs them. On a new QuickBooks tab, start with Seed from payroll history, which builds those rows from your payroll; once rows exist, Upload CoA (.csv / .xlsx) appears beside it to fill them with your real QuickBooks account names. Every required category has to be confirmed against your QuickBooks chart of accounts before Greenroom will generate the package. See Reports & Exporting Data for where to generate it and QuickBooks Package for the full detail.

Next steps

See Reports & Exporting Data for the QuickBooks export and coding summary, or Role & Pay for where GL codes attach to a payee's pay.