Yes. SparkReceipt gives you several ways to set up your expense and income categories. Most of them start from the Categories tab in the web app's Settings:
- Pick a pre-defined template. Start from a ready-made chart of accounts: IRS Schedule C, US Small Business, the German (SKR04), French (PCG), Spanish (PGC), Swedish (BAS), Finnish, Japanese and Turkish charts, European VAT Business, or the SparkReceipt default. SparkReceipt highlights the one that best matches your country, tax system, and business type. See Pre-defined chart of accounts templates.
- Upload your own file (with AI). Drop in any CSV or Excel chart of accounts — including ones exported from your accounting software or your accountant's spreadsheets. An AI step extracts the categories, account codes, and hierarchy, and gives you an editable preview before importing. See AI-based chart of accounts import.
- Build categories manually. Add, rename, and nest categories one at a time from the Categories settings tab. This is the right choice if your category list is small or you want full control from the start. See How do I add, rename, nest and delete Categories?.
- Copy them from another account. When you create a new linked account, choose an existing account under Copy categories from and the new account starts with the same categories.
- Sync from QuickBooks Online. If you use QuickBooks Online, SparkReceipt's deep integration syncs your GL accounts (Assets, Revenue, Expenses, Liabilities) and uses them to auto-categorize new documents.
Existing accounts are never overwritten
Switching templates or re-importing categories never modifies your existing chart of accounts unless you ask it to. By default, applying a template or importing a file adds new categories on top of what you already have. If you want to swap your chart of accounts wholesale, set Replace existing categories to Yes before applying — SparkReceipt will then re-categorize open-period documents into the matching new accounts and archive any categories still referenced by closed-period documents.
FAQ
Q: Can I switch templates later? A: Yes. Open Settings → Categories → Import categories any time and pick a different template. Choose whether to add it on top of your existing categories or replace them.
Q: Do I need to reformat my CSV before uploading? A: No. The AI importer is designed to handle whatever column layout your file already has, including subtotal rows and other clutter typical of accounting exports.
Q: Do I need QuickBooks to use custom categories? A: No. The built-in categories, templates, and file import all work without QuickBooks.
Q: Can I copy categories from one of my linked accounts to another account I already have? A: Only when you create the new account. Copy categories from in the Create new account dialog copies the categories of an account you are an admin of. For two accounts that already exist, there is no copy button. Apply the same template to both, or import the same file into each. See How to set up linked accounts.
Q: Can I get my categories in German, French or another language? A: Yes. Templates are written in your app language when they have names in it, and you can rename any category by hand. See Which language the category names are in.
Q: I set up my categories by hand. How do I apply them to the documents I already have? A: Select the documents in Documents and use Actions → Set category, or Auto-categorize uncategorized for documents without a Category. See How do I change the Category or other details of many documents at once?.