Overview

When tracking financial data for complex operations—such as multi-unit rental properties, multi-department organizations, or detailed project work—your accounting software’s ability to classify and segment information is critical.

QuickBooks Desktop uses a single "Class" system, which can be effective for basic departmental tracking. AccountEdge takes this a step further with two distinct tracking layers—Categories and Departments—providing a versatile and granular reporting framework. (Jobs can also be used to manage data at another level.)  

Let’s assume you have a rental property and you want to track your income and expenses by the rental property. Still, you also want to track it by department (the individual unit within the apartment building). With AccountEdge, this can be done easily.  

An example would be that you have a plumber come and make repairs on two or three units at the same time.  You can assign his invoice to a Category for that particular apartment building, and assign Department to each unit, by entering the corresponding department to each line item on the invoice, or split them to individual unit costs (by dollars or percentages).

Key Difference: Classes vs. Categories & Departments

How It Works in AccountEdge

Categories – Transaction-Level Tracking

• Categories are assigned to entire transactions, making them ideal for high-level grouping such as:
  • Apartment buildings in a property portfolio
  • Regional branches of a business
  • Product divisions

Departments – Line-Item Level Tracking

Departments can be assigned to one or many departments, as a percentage or dollar amount, per line item within a single transaction. This allows different parts of a bill, invoice, or journal entry to be tracked separately.

For example:

• A plumber’s invoice with repairs for three different apartment units
• One purchase order for supplies that will be used in multiple departments

Jobs – Project-Level Tracking

Jobs in AccountEdge provide an additional tracking dimension, often used for specific tasks or repairs. This can be layered with Categories and Departments for maximum detail. Like Departments, amounts are allocated to Jobs at the transaction-line level and can be assigned to one or many Jobs, as a percentage or dollar amount.  

Practical Example

Scenario: You own a 12-unit apartment building.

Category: The entire building (“Maple Street Apartments”)

Department: Each individual unit (Unit 101, Unit 102, etc.)

Job: Specific repairs or projects (e.g., “Plumbing Repair – Feb 2025”)

Workflow:

You receive a single plumber’s invoice for work done in Units 101, 103, and 107.

• Assign the Category “Maple Street Apartments” to the transaction.
• On each invoice line item, select the Department for the unit where the work occurred.
• Optionally, assign each repair a Job for detailed project costing.

Strategic Considerations When Setting Up

The specifics of using jobs, categories, and departments must be thoroughly thought out at the time your file is set up.  If you only own one or two rental properties, you might use a Category for the rental unit, Departments for things like plumbing, electrical, landscape, etc.  Then you could use individual Jobs for each occurrence.  

The power of AccountEdge’s system lies in the upfront planning:

• Decide top-tier classification: Is it category, department, or job?
• Consider reporting needs: Do you need to view results by category, by department, or by both?
• Keep data entry practical: Too many categories or departments can complicate workflows.

Conclusion

For businesses that need multi-dimensional tracking, AccountEdge combines Categories, Departments, and Jobs. This makes AccountEdge particularly well-suited for property managers, multi-branch companies, and organizations with complex departmental, job, or category structures.