Given the typical meticulous tendencies of most accountants, it's a little bit of a surprise that the descriptions in an average chart of accounts are a complete mess. Most charts of accounts are initially pristine but as accounts are added by various people over time, their descriptions become inconsistent. This makes it very difficult to ensure that users select the right account.
As an example, assume that the first segment in the chart of accounts represents the company, the second is the natural account, and the third is a department. An account description would ideally be something like ABC Co.-Cash-Marketing. In reality, accounts tend to look like Marking Cash, ABC, or AP Ops. This makes it hard for users to find and select the right account.
Dynamics GP provides a mechanism to ensure that new accounts follow a set naming pattern. Rather than adding a description to the chart of accounts, every unique option in each segment is...