Free synthetic accounting data
AvailableCharles River
Accounting Dataset.
A free synthetic accounting dataset for teaching, research, and applied analytics. Follow a fictional company's operational transactions, source evidence, subledgers, and general ledger using SQLite, Excel, or CSV.
Available in SQLite, Excel, and CSV. Created by Mauricio Codesso and published by Accounting Analytics Hub.
From business processes to accounting evidence
One company.
Connected records.
Charles River Home Furnishings, Inc. is a fictional Greater Boston business combining purchased merchandise, in-house manufacturing, and hourly Design Services. The dataset represents its business activity for educational analysis.
Operational transactions and source evidence connect to accounting subledgers and the general ledger. Learners can trace a transaction's context, examine related records, and investigate how accounting effects are recognized and reconciled. A business event or source document does not always create a journal entry.
The records are synthetic, rather than observed activity from a real company. The educational website maintains company background, accounting rules, database references, SQL examples, cases, and technical setup.
Read the dataset guide ↗ (opens in a new tab)Six connected business processes
Order to Cash ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Connect customer orders, fulfillment, billing, cash receipts, and settlement.
Procure to Pay ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Follow supply needs through receipts, supplier invoices, and payments.
Manufacturing ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Relate components and labor to production, completed goods, and work-order close.
Design Services ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Trace staff time, approval, and monthly customer billing for design work.
Payroll ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Follow approved work, gross-to-net pay, and separate payroll liability settlement.
Financial Close ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Examine manual journals, estimates, adjustments, later settlement, and annual close.
Teaching, research, and applied analytics
An accounting question
for each field of study.
Students, instructors, researchers, and independent learners can work with the same transaction-level accounting data across subjects and tools.
- Accounting information systems
- Trace business events across documents, related database records, internal controls, and ledger effects.
- Financial accounting
- Connect transaction-level accounting data and subledger activity with the general ledger and financial statements.
- Managerial accounting
- Investigate production, costs, customers, and operating decisions within one business environment.
- Auditing
- Develop accounting data analysis exercises around transaction tracing, reconciliations, and the interpretation of exceptions.
- Data analytics and research
- Practice SQL, analyze accounting data in Excel, or build Power BI models. Researchers can use synthetic records to develop and demonstrate analytical methods.
Free dataset downloads
Use SQL, Excel,
or your analytical tools.
Version 2027.1 is available in these formats. The official downloads guide (opens in a new tab) explains how to open the teaching files and find current releases.
Download SQLite ↗ (opens in a new tab)
A relational accounting database for SQL queries and transaction tracing.
Download Excel ↗ (opens in a new tab)
A workbook for exploring accounting tables and spreadsheet analysis.
Download CSV package ↗ (opens in a new tab)
A ZIP archive of CSV tables for import into analytical tools.
These direct downloads identify version 2027.1; its archived scholarly record is linked below. Keep the version assigned by your instructor and an unchanged source copy. The CSV download is a ZIP archive.
Choose a starting point
Context. Practice. Teaching.
Use the dedicated educational website to read, prepare your tools, and work through accounting data analysis exercises.
Understand the company
Read the company story and business process guides before working with the data.
Start with Charles River ↗ (opens in a new tab)Learn and investigate
Work through guided Excel and SQL practice, then investigate cases and reports.
Open Learn and Practice ↗ (opens in a new tab)Teach with the data
Review the instructor adoption guide for preparation, modules, and classroom use.
Read the adoption guide ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Dataset publication record
Identify the release.
Credit the source.
The scholarly record uses the title Charles River Accounting Database. Its all-versions DOI follows the dataset; the revision DOI identifies version 2027.1.
- Creator
- Mauricio Codesso
- Publisher
- Accounting Analytics Hub
- Version
- 2027.1
- Synthetic fiscal coverage
- Fiscal 2024–2026; some supplier settlements extend into early 2027.
- All-versions DOI
- 10.5281/zenodo.23428083 (opens in a new tab)
- Revision DOI
- 10.5281/zenodo.23428084 (opens in a new tab)
- Digital access
- Free · SQLite, Excel, CSV
Suggested citation
Codesso, M. (2027). Charles River Accounting Database (Version 2027.1) [Dataset]. Accounting Analytics Hub. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23428084 (opens in a new tab)
Hub recommendation using the scholarly record's assigned 2027 year and revision DOI. The dataset files are already available.
Connected resources
Use the same company.
Explore a new question.
Accounting Analytics: An Integrated Approach uses Charles River across Excel, SQL, Power BI, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and auditing applications. The publication page brings together the free textbook's scope, chapter overview, and citation.