QuickBooks Online with multiple companies

What you can and can't do with several companies in QuickBooks Online, and how to report on them as one group.

By the ConsoHQ editorial team. Updated 4 November 2026.

Key takeaways

• You can run several companies under one Intuit login, but each needs its own subscription.
• Data stays separate, and companies can't be merged.
• Separate legal entities need separate companies; one entity can use classes or locations.
• Set up matching charts of accounts and intercompany accounts from day one.
• For group reports, use Excel, Spreadsheet Sync, a consolidation app or Intuit Enterprise Suite.

How multiple companies work in QuickBooks Online

Intuit's help article is clear on the basics. You can add another company under the same Intuit account, and you'll see a company switcher when you sign in. Each company you create needs its own paid subscription. Data in each company remains completely separate: customers, suppliers, the chart of accounts, bank feeds, transactions and reports.

You can move some lists, such as suppliers, customers, inventory items and the chart of accounts, into a new company to save setup time. After that, they don't stay in sync: add a customer in one company and it won't appear in the other.

One company or several?

Before you add companies, decide whether you really need them. The deciding question is legal, not technical.

Separate legal entities need separate companies. If you've formed a second limited company or LLC, it has its own tax returns, bank accounts and statutory obligations. It needs its own QuickBooks company.

One legal entity with several activities can often stay as one company. If you run a café and a catering service under the same company, you can track them separately with classes or locations, which are available on QuickBooks Online's higher plans, and avoid a second subscription.

If you're unsure, ask your accountant. Getting this wrong is expensive to unwind.

Setting up a second company properly

1. Create the company from your Intuit account and choose a plan.
2. Use the same chart of accounts structure as your existing company where it makes sense. Copy it across if available. Matching charts make consolidation far easier later.
3. Create intercompany accounts in both companies, such as "Due from Coastline Properties" and "Due to Coastline Coffee". One account per counterparty.
4. Connect bank feeds for the new company's own bank accounts. Never run one company's transactions through the other's bank account without recording the intercompany entry.
5. Align classes or locations if you'll report on them across companies.
6. Agree a month-end date and close process for both.

Consolidate your QuickBooks companies in Joiin

Getting group reports: your four options

Once you have two or more companies, someone will want to see them together. Here are your options, from cheapest to most involved.

1. Export to Excel

Run each company's P&L and balance sheet, export them, and combine in a workbook with a mapping table and elimination rows. Free, flexible and fine for two simple companies; increasingly fragile beyond that. Our guide to QuickBooks consolidated statements walks through it.

2. Spreadsheet Sync on QuickBooks Online Advanced

Advanced includes Spreadsheet Sync, which pulls data from several companies into Excel. It removes the export step, but you still build the consolidation, mapping and eliminations in your workbook.

3. A consolidation app

Apps such as Joiin connect to each QuickBooks company, map accounts to a group layout, eliminate intercompany transactions and produce consolidated reports that stay live. Joiin can also include companies on Xero or Sage in the same group, and it's an Intuit Platinum App Partner. Pricing starts at $23 a month for one company on annual billing and is $57 for five.

4. Intuit Enterprise Suite

Intuit's own multi-entity product includes consolidated financial statements and tools for multi-entity eliminations and journal entries. Intuit doesn't publish list prices; independent estimates put it around $650 a month for a single entity and roughly $1,000 to $1,250 a month for two to five companies. It's a platform move rather than an add-on, so it makes sense when you're outgrowing QuickBooks Online for other reasons too.

Common mistakes with multiple QuickBooks companies

• Paying one company's bills from the other's bank account without recording an intercompany balance. It's the fastest way to make both sets of books wrong.
• Different charts of accounts for no good reason, which makes every consolidation harder.
• No intercompany accounts, so loans and recharges end up in general debtors and creditors.
• Different close dates across companies.
• Treating separate legal entities as classes in one company to save a subscription.

Checklist for running several QuickBooks companies

• Each legal entity has its own company and bank feeds
• Charts of accounts aligned where possible
• Intercompany accounts set up per counterparty in each company
• Intercompany balances reconciled every month
• All companies closed to the same date
• A group reporting method chosen and tested

Users and access across companies

Because each QuickBooks company is separate, users are managed company by company. Someone who needs access to three companies needs to be invited to each, with the right role in each. That's manageable for a small group, but keep a simple list of who has access to what, and review it when people join or leave. For group reports, a reporting tool with unlimited users, such as Joiin, lets subsidiary managers and directors see consolidated figures without needing a login to every QuickBooks company.

Accountants managing client groups

Accountants and bookkeepers usually manage client companies through QuickBooks Online Accountant, which gives one place to open each client's company. For clients with several companies, the same principles in this guide apply: aligned charts of accounts, dedicated intercompany accounts, a shared close date and a repeatable consolidation method. Firms that standardise this can offer group management accounts as a fixed-fee service. See our page for accountants and bookkeepers.

When to consider Intuit Enterprise Suite

Intuit Enterprise Suite is Intuit's answer for multi-entity businesses, with consolidated reporting and intercompany tools built in. It's worth evaluating when your problem is bigger than reporting: you need shared processes across entities, more complex approvals, deeper dimensions, or more users than QuickBooks Online plans suit. If your only problem is getting consolidated reports, an add-on is far cheaper and involves no migration. Our guide to multi-entity accounting software explains the trade-off between changing ledgers and adding a reporting layer.

Mixed ledgers within a group

Groups don't always stay on one system. You might acquire a company that runs Xero, or a subsidiary abroad might use a local system. There's no need to migrate everything to QuickBooks just to report on the group. Keep each company on the ledger that suits it, align intercompany accounts across systems, and consolidate with a tool that reads all of them. Migration can wait until there's an operational reason for it.

What a group costs to run: a worked example

Take a group with four QuickBooks Online companies. Each needs its own subscription, so budget for four plans at whatever level each company needs; the trading company may need a higher plan than a property company with a handful of transactions. Add group reporting: Excel costs time, perhaps a day or two a month for four companies. Joiin costs between $29 and $57 a month on annual billing for two to five companies. Intuit Enterprise Suite replaces the individual plans and is estimated at roughly $1,000 to $1,250 a month for two to five companies. For most small groups, separate QuickBooks plans plus a reporting app is the lowest total cost.

Closing a company you no longer need

Groups shrink as well as grow. If a company stops trading, don't just stop using its QuickBooks file. Settle or write off intercompany balances in both companies, file the final returns, and keep the company in group reporting until it's formally closed. Export its reports and keep a copy of the data before you cancel the subscription; check Intuit's current terms on read-only access after cancellation. Remove it from your consolidation only once its balances are zero.

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