Hello:

I'd suggest:

• Same number of digits for all accounts (sounds like all 6 in your case)
• Digits only if possible (faster to key in codes)
• Leave gaps between account numbers (to allow for new accounts in the future ie. 200010 then 200015 then 200020 etc)
• Group accounts into ranges (ie. all current assets 100000 to 199999 and so on)
• Use Account Group codes (turn on "Mandatory Acct Groups" and "Enforce Account Groups range" on Company Profile)
• Work chart of accounts out in Excel and then import
• Structure the department code (ie. first 3 characters represent something and next 3 something different). This will allow you to use wildcards in the financial reporter.

If you use only digits and use all 6 digits for each account, the sort order will simply be the numeric sequence.