Account Directive¶

The account directive declares an account and its properties.

Syntax¶

account ACCOUNTNAME
    [SUBDIRECTIVE]...

Basic Declaration¶

account Assets:Checking
account Expenses:Food
account Liabilities:Credit Card

Purpose¶

Account directives serve several purposes:

Validation - Only declared accounts can be used
Documentation - Describe account purpose
Type inference - Specify account type
Completion - Enable editor autocomplete

Subdirectives¶

Type Subdirective¶

Explicitly set the account type:

account Assets:Crypto
    type: Asset

account Revenue:Sales
    type: Revenue

Valid types: Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Cash

Alias Subdirective¶

Define shorthand names:

account Assets:Bank:First National Checking
    alias: checking
    alias: fnc

Usage:

2024-01-15 Deposit
    checking    $100    ; Expands to Assets:Bank:First National Checking
    Income:Salary

Note Subdirective¶

Add description:

account Assets:Emergency Fund
    note: 6 months of expenses for emergencies

account Expenses:Medical
    note: Healthcare costs including insurance and copays

Default Subdirective¶

Mark as default account:

account Assets:Checking
    default

Account Types¶

Automatic Type Inference¶

hledger infers type from account name prefix:

Prefix	Type
`assets:`	Asset
`liabilities:`	Liability
`equity:`	Equity
`revenues:`	Revenue
`income:`	Revenue
`expenses:`	Expense

Explicit Type¶

Override inference with type subdirective:

account Investments:Retirement
    type: Asset

account Opening Balances
    type: Equity

Hierarchical Declaration¶

Declare parent and children separately:

account Assets
account Assets:Bank
account Assets:Bank:Checking
account Assets:Bank:Savings

Or use indentation (visual grouping only):

account Assets
  account Assets:Bank
    account Assets:Bank:Checking
    account Assets:Bank:Savings

Account Names¶

Valid Characters¶

Letters (Unicode supported)
Numbers
Spaces
Colons (as separator)
Most punctuation except ;, [, ], (, )

Examples¶

account Assets:Bank:Checking
account Liabilities:Credit Cards:Visa
account Expenses:Food & Dining
account Assets:Währung:EUR
account Assets:日本円

Validation Mode¶

With --strict or --pedantic:

; Undeclared account causes error
2024-01-15 Transaction
    Expenses:Foood    $50    ; Error: undeclared
    Assets:Checking

Multiple Declarations¶

Account can be declared multiple times:

account Assets:Checking

; Later in file or included file
account Assets:Checking
    note: Primary checking account
    alias: checking

Properties are merged.

Complete Example¶

; ===== Account Declarations =====

; Asset accounts
account Assets
    type: Asset
    note: All owned resources

account Assets:Bank:Checking
    alias: checking
    note: Primary transaction account

account Assets:Bank:Savings
    alias: savings
    note: Emergency fund

account Assets:Investments:Brokerage
    alias: brokerage
    note: Stock investments

; Liability accounts
account Liabilities:Credit Card:Visa
    alias: visa
    type: Liability

account Liabilities:Mortgage
    type: Liability
    note: Home loan 30-year fixed

; Equity
account Equity:Opening Balances
    type: Equity

; Income
account Income:Salary
    type: Revenue
    alias: salary

account Income:Interest
    type: Revenue

; Expenses
account Expenses:Food:Groceries
    type: Expense
    alias: groceries

account Expenses:Food:Restaurants
    type: Expense
    alias: dining

account Expenses:Housing:Rent
    type: Expense

account Expenses:Utilities
    type: Expense

Command Line¶

# List all accounts
hledger accounts

# Check for undeclared accounts
hledger check accounts

# Use strict mode
hledger bal --strict