Overview
This guide walks through how to create and import a Chart of Accounts in Oracle Fusion Cloud. It covers all five setup steps — value sets, chart of accounts structure, structure instance, deployment, and entering values — as well as how to bulk-import segment values and account hierarchies using the FBDI template.
The Chart of Accounts is one of the foundational setup tasks in Oracle Fusion General Ledger. For the complete GL setup sequence including accounting calendars, legal entities, and primary ledger configuration, see the Oracle Fusion General Ledger Setup Guide.
For a hands-on walkthrough of Chart of Accounts setup, accounting flexfields, value sets, and the full General Ledger configuration process, the Oracle General Ledger Cloud Learning Subscription covers all of this in depth with end-to-end Fusion labs — you can start learning for free.
Video walkthroughs are also available: Creating Chart of Accounts and Importing CoA Values and Hierarchies.
What is a Chart of Accounts?
In traditional accounting, a chart of accounts is simply a list of accounts — assets like land, buildings, and computers; liabilities; expenses; revenues; and ownership accounts. Each account represents a category where financial transactions are recorded.
Oracle Fusion Cloud takes this further by allowing multiple dimensions to be added to each account. These dimensions are called segments. Instead of recording a transaction against a single account, you can record it against a combination of segments — for example, which company it belongs to, which department incurred it, and what type of account it falls under.
Each unique combination of segment values is called an account combination. For example, a chart of accounts with three segments — Company, Department, and Account — could produce combinations like:
- 10-00-10110: Company 10 (Google Operations), no department, account 10110 (Land)
- 20-110-40130: Company 20 (Google Services), Department 110 (Finance), account 40130 (Airfare expense)
This multi-dimensional structure allows organisations to track exactly which company, department, and account type every transaction belongs to.
The Five Steps to Create a Chart of Accounts
Setting up a chart of accounts in Oracle Fusion Cloud involves five steps. All tasks are accessed through the Implementation Project in Setup and Maintenance. If you haven't created an implementation project yet, see the Creating Implementation Project guide first.
Step 1 – Create Value Sets
A Value Set defines the characteristics and valid values for each segment. You create one value set per segment. For example, in a three-segment chart of accounts with Company, Department, and Account segments, you would create three value sets.
For each value set, you define:
- The module it belongs to (General Ledger)
- The validation type (Independent — meaning values are defined directly in the value set)
- The data type (Character)
- The maximum length — for example, 2 digits for the Company segment, 3 digits for Department, and 5 digits for the Account segment
To create value sets, search for the task Manage Chart of Accounts Value Sets in your implementation project, click on it, and click Go to Task. Click + to create each value set and save when done.
For full documentation on value sets and the accounting flexfield, refer to the Oracle Financials Cloud documentation.
Step 2 – Create the Chart of Accounts Structure
The Chart of Accounts Structure (also called a Flexfield Structure) brings together all the value sets you have created into a single framework. Within the structure, you create Flexfield Segments — one for each value set — and assign a Segment Label to each one.
Segment Labels identify the purpose of each segment. The required labels are:
- Primary Balancing Segment — used for the Company segment
- Cost Centre — used for the Department segment
- Natural Account — used for the Account segment
To create the structure, search for the task Manage Chart of Accounts Structure in your implementation project. Enter General Ledger as the module and search for the accounting flexfield. Click Manage Structures, then click + to create a new structure. Enter a name, choose a delimiter (the character that separates segment values in a combination, such as a dash), and then add your segments one by one, selecting the appropriate value set and segment label for each.
Step 3 – Create a Chart of Accounts Structure Instance
A Chart of Accounts Structure Instance is a feature introduced in Oracle Fusion Cloud that did not exist in earlier Oracle versions like EBS. An instance is a variation of a structure that allows you to define additional settings per segment, such as:
- Whether the segment is displayed
- Whether the segment is required
- A default value for the segment (which can differ between instances of the same structure)
You can create multiple instances from the same structure, each with different default values — useful when different ledgers need slightly different behaviour from the same chart of accounts structure.
To create an instance, click Manage Structure Instances on the Chart of Accounts Structure page, then click +. The segment instances are automatically included. Click Edit on each segment to mark it as required and configure defaults, then save and close.
Step 4 – Deploy the Chart of Accounts
Once the structure and instance are created, the chart of accounts must be deployed before it can be used. Deployment in Oracle Fusion is the equivalent of compilation in Oracle EBS R12. The key difference is that in EBS, compilation was done for one chart of accounts at a time, whereas in Fusion, the Deploy Flexfield action deploys all chart of accounts structures and instances in the system at once.
To deploy, go to the Accounting Flexfield page and click Deploy Flexfield. Wait for the process to complete to 100% and confirm the deployment status shows as complete. Your chart of accounts is now ready for use.
Step 5 – Enter Value Set Values
After deployment, you can start entering the actual values for each segment. For example, for the Company segment, you would enter values like 10 (Google Operations) and 20 (Google Services). For the Account segment, you would enter codes like 10110 (Land) and 40130 (Airfare).
To enter values manually, search for the task Manage Chart of Accounts Value Set Values in your implementation project. Select the value set, click Manage Values, then click + to add each value and save.
Importing Chart of Accounts Values and Hierarchies
When a chart of accounts has a large number of values — which is common in real implementations — entering them manually is not practical. Oracle Fusion Cloud provides a File Based Data Import (FBDI) template that allows you to import all values and account hierarchies at once. Full FBDI documentation for Financials Cloud is available in the Oracle FBDI guide.
Download the Template
The import template can be downloaded from the Oracle Enterprise Repository. Search for it online, navigate to Financials > File Based Data Import for Financials Cloud, and find the Chart of Accounts Segment Values and Hierarchies Import template. Note the UCM account path shown in the template (fin/general_ledger/import) — you will need this during the upload step.
Prepare the Values
Before filling in the template, first create a blank account hierarchy in Oracle Fusion. Go to the task Manage Account Hierarchies, click + to create a new hierarchy, enter a name, select the tree structure as Accounting Flexfield Hierarchy, and enter the value set name. Also create a tree version within this hierarchy and note its name — you will need to enter this in the template.
In the template:
- Sheet 2 is where you define the account values and their details (value code, account type, whether posting and budgeting are allowed, description, etc.)
- Sheet 3 is where you define the hierarchy relationships (parent-child structure between account values)
- Sheet 1 (Instructions) contains the Generate CSV button
Update the value set code in Sheet 2 and Sheet 3, enter the tree name and version name in Sheet 3, then click Generate CSV in Sheet 1. This creates a ZIP file containing the CSV files.
Import and Verify
To import the data, go to Navigator > File Import and Export and upload the ZIP file. Then go to Navigator > Scheduled Processes, click Schedule New Process, and search for the process Load Interface File for Import. Select the import process Import Segment Values and Hierarchies, choose your ZIP file as the data file, and submit.
Once the process completes successfully, verify the import by going to the task Manage Chart of Accounts Value Set Values — search for your value set and click Manage Values to confirm all values are present. To verify the hierarchy, go to Manage Account Hierarchies, open your hierarchy version, and confirm that all nodes are created as defined in the template.
