What it is
This is how a hotel goes live on Containn. Steps 1 to 4 are done once; steps 5 and 6 are the daily routine. Configure first and sign afterwards: the póliza (the Mexican term for a journal entry) is created at the moment the day is signed.
Before you start
The property needs the night audit turned on and its accounting concepts created, in Settings → Accounting concepts (with no concepts, Crear la propuesta builds a classic night audit sheet). Steps 1 to 4 require the Configurar el catálogo y el mapeo (configure chart and mapping) permission; step 5 requires Cerrar el día de operación (close the business date).
Step by step
- Load the base chart of accounts. In Containn → Configuración → Catálogo de cuentas (chart of accounts), click Cargar catálogo base de México (load the Mexico base chart), shown while the chart is empty. It creates 36 accounts, each with its SAT grouping code (the code Mexico's tax authority uses to read trial balances).
- Review the accounts with your accountant. Change numbers and names, or add accounts with Nueva cuenta (new account); the grouping code is required. Keep the posting role of the guests in house, output taxes, service charge and advance deposit accounts. Add equity and cost-of-sales accounts, which the base chart lacks; to close the year, one equity account needs the retained earnings role, typed as shown in the help text of the Papel en la póliza (posting role) field.
- Map your concepts. In Conceptos y sus cuentas (concepts and their accounts), give every active concept a posting-level account. Map them all: if a concept used that day has no account, that day's póliza is not created.
- Assign an account to each tax, further down, in Impuestos y sus cuentas (taxes and their accounts). Any tax left on La cuenta general de trasladados (the general output tax account) posts together with the rest.
- Sign the day. In Finances → Day close, close the date the screen proposes (with a manual close, run the close first). The first signed day is the anchor: earlier dates stay as unsigned history.
- Check that it posted. In Containn → Pólizas, type the month (for example, 2026-10) and open Ingresos del día (day's revenue) for that date: the bottom line must read Sumas iguales (equal totals).
A starting map
For example, with the proposed concepts and the base chart, a starting point your accountant approves or changes:
| Concepts | Account |
|---|---|
| 001 Room revenue and 051 Extra guest | 401-01 Hospedaje (room revenue) |
| 020 Restaurant and 022 Room service | 401-02 Alimentos (food) |
| 021 Bar and 023 Minibar | 401-03 Bebidas (beverages) |
| 045 to 050, 052 and 059 (spa, laundry, parking and others) | 401-04 Otros ingresos del hotel (other hotel revenue) |
| Z04 Tips | 216-01 Propinas por pagar al personal (tips payable to staff) |
| 080 Cash payment | 101-01 Caja del hotel (hotel cash) |
| 081 and 082 Card payments | 102-01 Bancos · depósitos de tarjeta (card deposits) |
| 086 Bank transfer | 102-02 Bancos · transferencias (transfers) |
| 089 Other methods | 102-03 Bancos · otros cobros (other collections) |
What can go wrong
- A yellow notice says what is missing: load the chart, give an account a role, or map concepts.
- It will not let you pick the ISH account. An account with another role cannot be assigned to a tax, and account 213-01 in the base chart comes with one. Edit it, clear its Papel en la póliza and assign it. (ISH is the state lodging tax.)
- Room tax lands in the general account. Today only taxes that arrive itemized are split, such as those on fixed charges posted by the night audit. Room tax arrives as a single amount; your accountant reclassifies it with a manual póliza.
- You signed and no póliza appeared. It is only attempted at signing. If the day was signed before setup was finished, or a folio charge has a category with no concept, that day stays without a póliza and Cierre de mes (month-end close) will not close the month (it lists the days). Fix the setup: the last signed day can be reopened, with the special permission and a reason, and signing it again creates its póliza. If several days are affected, contact support before reopening.
Related articles
The base chart of accounts for Mexico, account by accountThe 36 accounts Containn loads in one step, with their SAT grouping code and normal balance, and what your accountant still needs to add.How to map your codes to your accountsA one-time setup: which account each hotel concept goes to. With it, every signed day becomes a journal entry without anyone keying it in.Taxes: one account per taxEach hotel tax can have its own account so the journal entry doesn't lump IVA and ISH together. Which lines are split today and which go to the general account.Why a póliza is not generated: the eleven reasonsThe eleven reasons a signed day ends up without a póliza, where you see it on screen, and how to fix each one.