How it works
Each account has a name, a type and usually a code, such as 4000 Sales or 6100 Software. Every journal line posts to one account, and financial statements are built by summing accounts by type. Companies design their own charts, so two businesses on the same ledger can have very different structures, numbering schemes and levels of detail.
Example
An expense tool lets each customer map card categories to their own accounts: Travel to 6200, Software to 6100. Because every customer's chart differs, the mapping is stored per connection, not hard-coded.
In integrations
Any write to a ledger depends on choosing the right account. The Unify Accounting API reads the chart as-is and exposes account type, classification and code in one shape across platforms. You select accounts by id. Unify Int is designed never to invent, merge or silently remap accounts, and to validate the account before a write goes out. Products that write to ledgers usually ask the customer to map their own categories to accounts once, during setup. Store that mapping per connection and re-check it when the chart changes, because accounts get archived and renamed.