The Mortgage Broker Chart of Accounts Explained (2025 Update)

As a mortgage broker, your business has a lot of moving parts, between loan officer commissions, lender payouts, and marketing costs, it can feel like money is constantly flowing in and out. Keeping track of where it all goes can be tricky, especially if your books aren’t organized in a way that reflects how your business actually runs.

That’s where your chart of accounts comes in. It’s the backbone of your financial system,  a structured list that helps you see what you own, what you owe, what you earn, and what you spend. When it’s set up correctly, you get clear visibility into how your brokerage is performing and what needs tightening up. If your chart of accounts is poorly structured, your books become a confusing mess that makes tax time and financial reporting a headache.

In this blog, we’ll outline what the mortgage broker chart of accounts look like so you can arrive at one that actually helps you run your business with confidence.

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What Is A Chart Of Accounts?

A chart of accounts is simply a list of categories that every transaction in your business falls into. It’s how your accounting software organizes your money and turns day-to-day transactions into meaningful reports. 

Each category, or account, represents a different type of activity, like income from loan origination fees or expenses for lead generation. When those accounts are set up clearly, your reports tell the real story of how your brokerage is performing.

A chart of accounts is generally made up of these main sections:

• Assets: What your business owns (cash, receivables, prepaid expenses, fixed assets, deferred costs)
  
  
• Liabilities: What your business owes (payables, accruals, deferred revenue, compensation payable, and clawbacks)
  
  
• Equity: The owner’s investment or retained earnings (owner capital, retained earnings, opening balances)
  
  
• Income / Revenue: How your brokerage makes money (all income streams, gains, rebates, and discount income)
  
  
• Direct Costs / Cost of Goods: Costs directly tied to revenue (subcontracted processing, underwriting)
  
  
• Expenses: What you spend to keep the business running, from payroll to software subscriptions

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Why Mortgage Brokers Need Their Own Chart Of Accounts

A mortgage brokerage manages complex financial transactions that include multiple parties, loan types, and compensation structures.

That means your chart of accounts needs to reflect those unique realities. For example, you may earn income from origination fees, broker commissions, underwriting fees or secondary market gains. You may also have direct costs such as credit reports, appraisals, or title fees. Some of which are reimbursable, and some that are part of your operating costs.

If your current chart of accounts lumps everything together, it’s nearly impossible to tell which parts of your business are driving profit. A clean, well-structured setup helps you see, at a glance, how each branch, loan officer or revenue stream is performing. It also makes tax filing smoother and allows you to spot red flags early, like rising vendor costs or shrinking margins.

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A Sample Chart Of Accounts For Mortgage Brokers

Here’s a sample layout that works well for most small to mid-sized brokerages. You can adjust it to match your structure, but it’s a great place to start.

Assets
10100 Business Checking – Operating
10200 Business Savings – Reserve
11000 Accounts Receivable – Origination Fees
12100 Prepaid Expenses
13100 Office Equipment and Furniture

Liabilities
20100 Accounts Payable
21100 Business Credit Card
22100 Accrued Commissions Payable
23100 Deferred Revenue (Unearned Fees)

Equity
31000 Distributions
32000 Retained Earnings

Income
41000 Direct Sales Revenue (Broker/Owner origination)
42000 Loan Officer Revenue (Loan officer origination)

Direct Costs (Cost of Goods Sold)
51000 Commissions
52000 Credit Reports
54000 Contract Processing
55000 Reimbursed Fees

Expenses
61000 Salaries and Wages
62000 Payroll Taxes and Benefits
63000 Rent and Utilities
64000 Marketing and Lead Generation
65000 Technology and Software
66000 Professional Fees (Legal, Accounting)
67000 Travel and Client Meetings
68000 Insurance and Licensing
69000 Training and Continuing Education

This setup keeps things simple but still gives you enough detail to track where your money is going. 

You can even restructure your chart of accounts to show your expenses broken out into the central pillars of your business.

For example:

• General & Administrative - Costs associated with running the business from an administrative standpoint. Office supplies, marketing, software, etc.
• Payroll - Costs associated with paying your employees. Wages, payroll taxes, health insurance, etc.
• Facilities - Costs associated with maintaining your business’s office or building. Rent, repairs and maintenance, janitorial services, etc.
• Legal & Professional Fees - Costs associated with legal and professional services. Attorney fees, bookkeeping, and tax preparation.

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How To Build Or Clean Up Your Chart Of Accounts

If you’re starting from scratch, begin by listing all the ways your brokerage earns money and the main expenses tied to those activities. Then group those items into the five main account types: assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses.

For an existing business, start with a cleanup; open your current chart of accounts and look for accounts that are unclear or no longer used. Merge or rename them so anyone, even someone new to your team, can tell what belongs where.

It also helps to document your chart of accounts in a short one-page guide where you write down where specific transactions go, such as:

• Appraisal costs go under “53000 Appraisals”
• Lead generation platforms go under “64000 Marketing”
• LO commissions payable go under “22100 Accrued Commissions”
  
  

That reference sheet keeps your books consistent as you grow and bring more people into the process.

Finally, test your setup. You can post a few recent transactions and run a sample Profit & Loss statement. Then ask yourself if the numbers make sense and whether you can tell how much you earned from each revenue stream. If not, tweak the setup until your reports tell the story clearly.

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When To Call In The Experts

If your books are messy or your financial reports leave you with more questions than answers, it might be time to bring in a professional. At Bookkeeping for Brokers, we specialize in helping mortgage brokers and brokerage owners design accounting systems that make sense.

We’ll help you clean up your chart of accounts and streamline your reporting so your finances tell the full story of your business.

If you’re ready to get your books in order and gain better insight into your brokerage’s performance, reach out to our team today. 

Until next time!