Did you know that over 1000 UK businesses use multi company accounting software? Did you also know that they all run their accounting in a different way? If you are not using multi company accounting software then it’s likely you’re using a manual process. This is really inefficient — mainly due to the scale of it all. A small mistake in invoicing could lead to a loss of revenue.
Managing your finances can be difficult and sometimes time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Using multi company accounting software is a great way to get the most of your financial data without having to elbow through it all yourself and without having experts on hand to do it for you.
Multi company accounting software is an application that allows you to manage multiple companies from one place. It allows you to create accounts and transactions for each company, and it also allows you to make reports based on the information that you have entered.
When it comes to multi-company accounting software, there are two types: cloud-based and on-premises. Cloud-based multi-company accounting software is hosted in the cloud and can be accessed from any device that has an internet connection. On-premises multi-company accounting software is installed on your desktop or laptop computer. This type of software requires a server and hard disk space in order to run properly.
Cloud-based multi-company accounting software offers many benefits over its on-premises counterpart. One of the biggest advantages is that it’s easy to access from anywhere using any device with internet access. Another benefit is that you don’t need to install anything locally because everything runs online through your service provider’s servers (e.g., Google Drive). We recommend this type of solution if you’re looking for something simple but powerful enough to meet your needs—and if your business has no plans for growth outside of its current scope or location!
Multi-company accounting software is a software that is used by companies to manage their accounting and finance operations. This type of software is usually used by large corporations. It is also often referred to as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
The main purpose of multi-company accounting software is to help companies manage their financial data, including sales, purchases, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, etc. It also allows them to track their inventory levels and manage customer information. In addition, multi-company accounting software can be used to create reports that show how the business performed during a specific period of time.
Best Online Accounting Software of 2022
| Rank | Provider | Info | Visit |
| 1 | Editor’s Choice 2022 | Easy, simple softwarePerfect for small businessesInvoicing featuresTop-notch customer supportFull review… | Visit FreshBooks |
| 2 | Very good user interfaceOver 300 integration optionsGood mobile appsTrial period and money-back guaranteeFull review… | Visit | |
| 3 |  | Easy to use interfaceHighly customizableLots of add-ons availableForever-free versionFull review… | Visit |
Things to Look for
Like we said before, it is not impossible to manage multiple businesses through the same account. However, there are certain things you have to pay attention to, otherwise you might end up creating a mess.
Multiple Currencies
Support for multiple currencies is crucial, especially if you run businesses in different countries. Simply entering an invoice amount in the wrong currency already impacts the books of your different businesses. Therefore it’s important you pick a solution that makes it easy to enter and manage different currencies.
Separate Reports
Thankfully the accounting software knows that it deals with different companies under the same account, therefore it keeps business reports separate from each other. However, it is best to ask the help of an accountant to go through your books, in order to spot deviations and to comply with the different regulations of the countries and states you conduct business in.
Multiple CurrenciesReportingBank ReconciliationTax Rates
Setting Up a Different Currency in FreshBooks
Banking
This is a real catch 22: keeping different bank accounts for each of your businesses is logical, but maintaining them costs a lot. However, if you have one bank account you might end up mixing them up, because you will not be able to differentiate between bank transactions. Some accounting software will let you tag bank transactions or group them, so that you can create an overview of the transactions related to one business entity or branch specifically.
Taxing
Each state and each country applies their own tax rates – and you have to keep them separated from each other. Applying the wrong tax rate once can result in faulty tax reports, which is one of the riskiest parts of managing multiple entities through the same bookkeeping account.
Recommended Online Accounting Software
Although finding an online accounting solution with the option of multi-business accounting is not easy, it is not impossible – and we have three examples worthy of your consideration.
Xero
Although we cannot praise Xero enough for being one of the best and most versatile accounting solutions on the market, we have some grave news: unless you don’t mind that your books are merged together, Xero highly discourages its users from creating one account for multiple companies. In fact, Xero emphasizes its single-entity nature, thus you have no choice but to create multiple accounts for each of your company. However, that doesn’t mean that this top rated cloud accounting company is an option to scratch off your shortlist. There are a couple of tricks you can perform to make accounting with multiple accounts for different companies with Xero manageable. Such a trick is Xero to Xero: once turned on, the moment you create an invoice in your primary Xero account it appears as a draft in any other Xero account you own. Another way is to use a third-party reporting tool, such as Spotlight Reporting or Fathom, with which you can consolidate your financial and non-financial data.
FreshBooks
If you want an accounting solution that allows you to have multiple businesses under the same account, then FreshBooks should be your number one pick. While this software “only” knows the basics, it also sports some quirks like advanced projecting, time tracking and multi-business support, along with support for various third party services and solutions. You don’t have to be afraid of mixing data either, since the only thing that will be shared between your companies is your email ID and the login page. Furthermore, not only you can create as many additional businesses as you want, but you can also enjoy a 30-day free trial on each of them, starting from the day the subaccount for the new business is created.
Keep in mind, however, that you have to multiply the costs by the number of companies you own. Furthermore, if you want to see all FreshBooks business reports in one place, you have to rely on an add-on.
Sage One
Although you have to choose the better pricing plan out of the two and you have to pay $19.99 for the first 6 months, Sage One has the same offer as FreshBooks: managing multiple businesses from the same account. With your subscription you get all features of Sage One, including automated bank reconciliation (with the option to split transactions between various ledgers), 1099s and detailed business reports for each of your businesses. Next to real-time cashflow forecasts and payment confirmations for your vendors, you can create so-called pro-forma invoices that don’t appear in the reports until they are paid. Just remember that in order to use multiple companies under the same account, you must pay as many times the price of the subscription fee as many businesses you own.