Turn lead into potential, not necessarily account?

Turn lead into potential, not necessarily account?

I was looking through the forums and couldn't find an answer to my question. I'm new to Zoho CRM and am confused about why it creates an account when I turn a lead into a potential. 

My team was hoping we could have it set so after a qualification is done, a lead could be turned into a potential. From there, if the potential is closed, it would be turned into an account. 

We are confused why a potential necessarily creates an account. We have leads that go to a qualification phase that is definitely more involved than just a lead, but not a sold account. 

Any thoughts how we could customize or better utilize the current system? Thanks! 

Duncan