You will need the Accounting Settings permission to perform this action.
Every account in your chart of accounts has a Type — Asset, Liability, Income, Expense, or Equity — and that Type determines how the account behaves in the general ledger, including how debits and credits affect its balance.
Because each Type works differently under the hood, you cannot convert an existing account from one Type to another (for example, changing an Equity/Fund Balance account into an Expense account). Making that kind of change would significantly disrupt your general ledger.
This is especially true for Equity accounts. Unlike Asset, Liability, Income, and Expense accounts, Equity accounts aren't created directly — they're generated automatically whenever you add a Fund. See How do I manage the list of funds in accounting? for details.
How to fix an account that has the wrong type
If you discover an account was set up with the wrong Type, don't try to edit the existing account.
Instead:
Add a new account with the correct Type. Go to Accounting > Settings > Chart of Accounts and click + Add New. Give it an appropriate number, name, and the correct Type.
Move the activity out of the incorrect account. Decrease the balance of the original account and increase the balance of the new account by the same amount. A journal entry can be used. See How do I add a journal entry? for step-by-step instructions. If there's only a small number of transactions in the original account, this is usually a quick fix.
Retire the old account once its balance is zero. Use the 3-dots menu next to the account in the Chart of Accounts table and choose Delete. If Delete isn't available, the account is still referenced in the general ledger — choose Deactivate instead so it's hidden from most of the system without removing its history.
Tip: Before saving a new account, double-check the Type on the General tab — it can't be changed later. Remember, Equity isn't a selectable option; if you need a new fund balance, add a Fund instead and the Equity account will be created for you automatically.
Example
A church created an account in March and typed it as Equity/Fund Balance when it should have been an Expense account. Since it only had one transaction, the fix was simple: a new Expense account was added, and a journal entry moved the single transaction's amount from the Equity account to the new Expense account.