.CSV Export Format

Chart of Accounts for Sage 50

Generate a properly formatted CSV file for Sage 50 (formerly Peachtree Accounting). Our tool maps account types automatically and follows Sage's numbering conventions — free and instant.

Generate Sage 50 CSV

What Is a Chart of Accounts?

A Chart of Accounts (COA) is the organized list of every financial account used by your business to record, categorize, and report financial transactions. It serves as the backbone of your accounting system in Sage 50, organizing all activity into five major categories: Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, and Expenses. Each account has a unique number and type that determines where it appears on your financial statements.

In Sage 50, the Chart of Accounts directly controls the structure of your General Ledger, Profit & Loss report, and Balance Sheet. A well-designed chart provides meaningful groupings that let you quickly identify trends and make informed financial decisions. For example, separating "Office Supplies" from "Marketing Expenses" lets you see exactly how much you spend on each category rather than lumping everything into a generic "Expenses" bucket.

Our generator creates CSV files formatted specifically for Sage 50's import function. Each account includes an account number, description, account type, and active status — the four fields Sage 50 needs to create accounts. You can start with one of our industry templates and customize it to match your business, or build your entire chart from scratch.

Why Use Sage 50?

Sage 50 (formerly Sage Peachtree) is one of the most established accounting software solutions in the market, with a history spanning over 40 years. It is a desktop-based application designed for small to medium businesses that prefer to keep their financial data locally on their own computers. Sage 50 is especially popular among manufacturing companies, distribution businesses, and professional services firms that need robust inventory management, job costing, and detailed financial reporting.

Sage 50 comes in three editions: Pro, Premium, and Quantum. The Pro edition supports a single user and handles basic accounting needs. Premium adds multi-user access (up to 5 users), advanced budgeting, and department tracking. Quantum scales to 40 users and adds advanced security, custom reporting, and integration with Sage Business Intelligence for deeper analytics. All editions include payroll processing, accounts receivable and payable management, inventory tracking, and over 100 built-in financial reports.

One of Sage 50's key strengths is its audit trail capability. Every transaction in Sage 50 is tracked and timestamped, making it ideal for businesses that need to demonstrate compliance or provide detailed records to auditors. The software also supports multi-company management, so you can run separate books for multiple businesses from a single installation. Our generator produces CSV files that work with all editions of Sage 50, from the latest cloud-connected version to older standalone installations.

How to Import Your Chart of Accounts into Sage 50

Follow these steps to import your generated CSV file into Sage 50.

Generate Your CSV File

Use our generator to select your industry template or build from scratch. Choose "Sage 50" as your export format and download the CSV file.

Open Sage 50

Launch Sage 50 (formerly Peachtree) and open the company file where you want to import the Chart of Accounts.

Navigate to File → Import/Export

Go to File → Import/Export → Accounts Receivable Accounts (or General Ledger → Chart of Accounts Import depending on your Sage 50 version). Select CSV as the import format.

Map Fields

Browse to your downloaded CSV file and select it. Sage 50 will display a field mapping dialog. Map each CSV column to the corresponding Sage 50 field: Account Number, Account Description, Account Type, and Active Status.

Complete the Import

Review the mapped data and click Import. Sage 50 will process the file and add the accounts to your Chart of Accounts. Navigate to Maintain → Chart of Accounts to verify the import.

Recommended Account Structure for Sage 50

Below is a recommended Chart of Accounts for Sage 50, following its standard numbering and type conventions.

Assets

1000Cash in BankCash

Primary business checking account

1010Savings AccountCash

Business savings and reserves

1100Accounts ReceivableAccounts Receivable

Outstanding customer invoices

1200Prepaid ExpensesOther Current Asset

Insurance, rent, and prepaid costs

1500EquipmentFixed Asset

Computers, machinery, and office furniture

1510Accumulated DepreciationFixed Asset

Cumulative depreciation on fixed assets

Liabilities

2000Accounts PayableAccounts Payable

Bills owed to suppliers

2100Credit Card PayableCredit Card

Business credit card balances

2200Payroll Taxes PayableOther Current Liability

Employee tax withholdings

2700Notes PayableLong-Term Liability

Bank loans and long-term debt

Equity

3000Owner's EquityEquity

Owner's investment in the business

3100Retained EarningsEquity

Accumulated profits

Income

4000Service RevenueIncome

Primary business service income

4100Product SalesIncome

Revenue from product sales

4900Interest IncomeOther Income

Bank interest and investment returns

Expenses

5000AdvertisingExpense

Marketing and promotional costs

5100InsuranceExpense

Business insurance premiums

5200Office SuppliesExpense

Paper, ink, and small office items

5300RentExpense

Office or retail space rent

5500WagesExpense

Employee wages and salaries

6000Cost of Goods SoldCost of Goods Sold

Direct costs of products sold

Best Practices for Sage 50

Sage 50 uses a strict numbering system. Account numbers typically follow a pattern: 1000-1999 for Assets, 2000-2999 for Liabilities, 3000-3999 for Equity, 4000-4999 for Income, and 5000-6999 for Expenses. Our generator follows this convention.
Always create a backup of your Sage 50 data before importing. Go to File → Back Up to create a backup file (.ptb) that you can restore if the import causes issues.
Sage 50 supports sub-accounts through the account numbering structure. For example, you might use 5000 as a header account for "Operating Expenses" and 5010, 5020, 5030 as sub-accounts.
Account types in Sage 50 are fixed — once you assign a type to an account, you cannot change it later. Make sure your account types are correct before importing.
Sage 50 supports up to 10,000 general ledger accounts in the Complete Accounting version. For most businesses, 40-80 accounts provides adequate detail.
After importing, set up the default accounts in Sage 50 under Maintain → Default Information → Account Defaults. These defaults (like default cash account and retained earnings account) are required for many Sage 50 features to work properly.

Generate Your Sage 50 Chart of Accounts

Choose from 21 industry templates and download a ready-to-import CSV file in seconds.

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