BAS Chart of Accounts – Basics

The BAS chart of accounts is the backbone of Swedish bookkeeping. If you understand this article in ten minutes, you'll be able to read a P&L, talk to your accountant on equal footing and grasp what Vendion books for you. Promise.

What is BAS actually?

The BAS chart of accounts is widely used in Sweden and maintained by BAS-kontogruppen. Swedish companies are not required to use one specific chart. Vendion uses BAS-based defaults that you can adapt with your accountant. See BAS.

The four-digit system

Every BAS account has exactly four digits. The first digit tells you what type of account it is:

The second, third and fourth digits give finer breakdown. In Vendion's central chart of accounts (the default mode) the revenue account is chosen by VAT rate, not by product type:

• 3001 = Sales 25% VAT (strong beer, wine, spirits and anything else at 25%). Light beer and medium-strength beer (folköl) follow the food rate
• 3002 = Sales 12% VAT (food and non-alcoholic drinks, served)
• 3003 = Sales 6% VAT (food and drinks for takeaway/delivery)

You see the pattern – 3xxx is revenue, and in the default mode the VAT rate decides which account the line lands on. (In advanced mode you can instead give each category its own account.)

Accounts a typical restaurant uses

Of the thousands of available BAS accounts, you'll actually encounter about 15 daily.

Assets (1xxx)

Liabilities (2xxx)

Revenue (3xxx)

Costs (4xxx–7xxx)

Note: POS sales mainly use asset, liability, revenue and VAT accounts. Vendion also provides records for card fees and payroll. Supplier purchases, year-end close and your complete accounts are handled in your accounting program.

Debit and credit – short version

Each account has two sides: debit (left) and credit (right). The rule is simple:

And the absolute most important thing: total debit = total credit in every voucher. Otherwise it can't be booked.

A concrete example

A guest buys a dine-in burger for 120 SEK (12% VAT) and pays by card.

• Net = 120 / 1.12 ≈ 107.14 SEK
• VAT = 120 − 107.14 = 12.86 SEK

Interpretation:

• We received 120 SEK on the card receivables account (asset increases → debit).
• We earned 107.14 SEK in food revenue (revenue increases → credit).
• We owe the Tax Agency 12.86 SEK in VAT (liability increases → credit).

What Vendion reads from the chart of accounts

When you go into Admin → Accounting → Vouchers & export → Chart of Accounts you see fields where every entry has an account number. Vendion uses these to build vouchers automatically.

You can customize account numbers if your accountant wants something different – e.g. their own internal number instead of Vendion's default. Everything can be changed without touching the POS flow. Always reconcile the final chart of accounts with your own accountant.

Important: Never change account numbers mid-month. Then half the month's vouchers end up on one account and half on another. Make changes at month-end and notify the accountant.

Read more

• Accounts in Vendion – Default Setup — exactly which accounts are preconfigured
• Map Payment Methods to Accounts — cash → 1910, card → 1580 etc.
• Map Categories to Revenue Accounts — food → 3002, alcohol → 3001

BAS is a powerful language once you've learned it. And now you know a little of it.