choosing-accounts: updates

src/Choosing-accounts.md

@@ -1,5 +1,23 @@
 % Choosing accounts
 
+Some rules of thumb:
+
+- It helps to use the standard five top level accounts (assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses, in your preferred language).
+- Add subaccounts as driven by your reporting needs. Otherwise keep account names simple.
+- Expect your chart of accounts to evolve as needs change; keep tending it.
+- If using english names: should it be revenues or income ? Whichever you prefer (revenues is slightly more technically correct).
+- Spaces, no spaces, or hyphens for multi-word names ? Spaces look a little nicer but require extra quoting eg at the command line.
+- Lower case or capitalised ? As you prefer. All lower case reduces typing/spelling effort.
+- Accounts, tags, or other fields for categorising ? Use accounts for your primary categorising as they are best supported.
+  Consider using tags if you have cross-cutting categorising schemes.
+  For adhoc/infrequent categorising, some matchable text in the description might be enough.
+- Shallow or deep account hierarchy ? 
+  If your tools are good at summarising deep hierarchies, don't be afraid of deep/detailed subaccounts.
+  On the other hand don't add more detail than you really need.
+
+Or, you may want to follow or start from an existing chart of accounts, perhaps legally required in your situation. 
+Here are some ideas:
+
 - [sample chart of accounts for a freelancer](https://gist.github.com/simonmichael/9936299)
 - [Beancount Cookbook: Account Naming Conventions](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tss0IEzEyAPuKSGeNsfNgb0BfiW2ZHyP5nCFBW1uWlk/view#heading=h.tu0f1kydrpgn)
 - [Mint: Ways to Categorize Your Spending](https://www.mint.com/mint-categories)