Posting

Posting accounts are the financial accounts that track assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. Transactions posted to these accounts appear on financial reports. Examples of posting accounts include Cash, Cost of Goods Sold, and Accounts Receivable.

Unit

Unit accounts are similar to posting accounts. Like posting accounts, unit accounts are used in transaction entry. Historical information and budgets can be maintained for both types of accounts. However, quantities-rather than amounts-are posted to unit accounts, and unit accounts don't appear on financial statements.

Fixed Allocation

Fixed allocation accounts are used to distribute fixed percentages of a single transaction among several accounts. For example, a fixed allocation account might be used to divide utility expenses among the departments within a company. When you post transactions to allocation accounts, the amounts are allocated to distribution accounts based on percentages you define.

Variable Allocation

Variable allocation accounts are used to distribute percentages of a single transaction to several different accounts, much like fixed allocation accounts. You might use variable allocation accounts instead of fixed allocation accounts when you need to break down expenses precisely. For example, you could set up an account, Insurance Expense, and distribute the expense among the distribution accounts set up for each department. The expense could be further broken down by the number of employees in each department, if you set up unit accounts that track each department's head count.