Setting up your company structure in Sage Intacct: single entity vs multi-entity shared

Choosing between the Sage Intacct Single Entity and Multi-Entity Shared structures is a crucial early step that impacts your accounting, reporting, and future scalability—Single Entity works best for organizations with one operating company and currency, while Multi-Entity Shared is designed for businesses managing multiple legal entities or base currencies, offering shared data, automated inter-entity transactions, and streamlined consolidated reporting.

When implementing Sage Intacct, one of the most important early decisions is how to structure your company within the system — specifically, which “container type” to use. The two most common container types in Sage Intacct are Single Entity and Multi-Entity Shared. Understanding the differences between these options is critical to ensuring your accounting and reporting needs are met today and as your organization grows.

Single Entity: best for a single operating company

A Single Entity container is ideal for organizations operating as a single company. This setup is designed for businesses that require only one accounting base currency. While it’s possible to transact in multiple currencies, there can only be one base (reporting) currency for the entity.

Single Entity containers are commonly selected by companies with only one federal tax ID. This approach supports multiple locations or departments, allowing you to generate both departmental/location-level and consolidated financial reports with minimal extra effort. With this structure, there is one chart of accounts, one vendor list, and consistent master data for the entire organization.

Multi-Entity shared: built for multiple companies or currencies

If your business includes multiple legal entities or operates with more than one base currency, the Multi-Entity Shared container is the better choice. This structure lets you set up several companies that can share data lists such as the chart of accounts and vendors, enabling seamless consolidated financial reporting.

In a Multi-Entity Shared setup, the top-level company acts as an “outer container,” holding data lists that are shared among the entities. Each entity maintains its own locations, which are not visible to other entities. Most transactions are entered at the entity level, so each entity has its own full set of books, but certain transactions can be performed at the top level, supporting automated inter-entity transactions.

This structure allows you to define inter-entity relationships. When entering a transaction that involves multiple entities, Sage Intacct automatically generates the necessary inter-entity payables or receivables, reducing manual entry and minimizing the risk of out-of-balance scenarios.

You can also create a separate entity for the purpose of eliminating inter-entity balances, making consolidated financial statements easy to generate. If your organization requires multiple base currencies, Sage Intacct’s Global Consolidation solution can be added to the Multi-Entity Shared environment, allowing for currency translations and consolidated reporting.

Efficiency and flexibility with Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct’s flexible container types are designed to support both common and complex business structures. Whether you operate a single company or manage multiple entities, the system streamlines data management while still enabling detailed reporting and compliance with accounting standards. By choosing the right container type, you can ensure your organization is set up for efficient operations and future scalability.

Next steps

Setting up your company structure in Sage Intacct can have a significant impact on your accounting processes, reporting, and long-term scalability. Rand Group is here to help you make the right decision for your business needs, whether you’re implementing Sage Intacct for the first time or restructuring your existing environment. Our team of experts can guide you through the selection, setup, and optimization of your Sage Intacct deployment.

To learn more about how Rand Group can help you get the most out of Sage Intacct — from container type selection to system configuration and ongoing support — contact us today. For additional insights on ERP implementation and best practices, explore our Insights section.