I finally finished the course on multiple companies. There are two ways to configure multiple companies in Acumatica: separate branches and separate companies. It seems to me that what I typically think of as companies are actually going to be called branches in most cases in Acumatica.
If you configure companies:
- Each company is a separate legal entity
- The Due To / Due From Inter-Company transactions must be created manually
- You must create a separate company and import the data in order to do consolidated reporting
If you configure branches:
- The Currency, Fiscal Calendar, and Chart of Account Structure must be the same for all branches
- Customers, Vendors, and Employees are shared across all branches
- The Due To / Due From Inter-Company transactions are created automatically
- The branches could be the same or different legal entities
- Consolidated reporting is available
When using branches, there are different organizational examples to consider:
- (Example 1) A central headquarters with multiple locations or multiple branches that have separate operations. The accounting staff are located in the central headquarters. All transactions are posted in one ledger. The branches are not separate legal entities and no automatica inter-branch transactions are generated. Access rights can be maintained separately for each branch.
- (Example 2) Each branch is autonomous. Each branch is a legal entity. All transactions are posted to one ledger that is shared between the branches. Most vendors and customers are shared, but some are associated with a specific branch. Inter-branch transactions are automatically created. Some GL Accounts and GL Subaccounts are assigned to a specific branch.
- (Example 3) Combination of Example 1 and Example 2. Each legal entity has its own headquarters with separate locations/organizational units underneath. Each legal entity gets its own ledger. When transactions occur within a ledger, no inter-branch transactions are created. When transactions occur between ledgers, the inter-branch transactions will be generated by the system