Accounting for founders who run several companies: one login, separate books

Each company keeps its own books, members and bank connections

When you add a company you give it a name, country, entity type, the currency its books are kept in and its reporting basis. Its bank and card feeds belong to that one company, so nothing from one company can land in another's books by mistake.

That matches how your companies are built. The IRS treats a single-member LLC as disregarded for income tax unless it elects to be taxed as a corporation, but each company still has its own bank accounts, its own return or filings and its own owners to answer to. Separate books keep each of them clean.

You can move each company's history in for free from QuickBooks, Xero, Digits, Kick, Puzzle or a spreadsheet, and every month-end ties to the cent before the history goes live.

Control+1 to 9 switches company, and Control+0 shows them all

Press Control+1 to Control+9 on a Mac (Alt+1 to Alt+9 on Windows) or pick a company in the switcher at the top of the sidebar. Browsers keep the Command key for their own tabs, which is why Accountable uses Control. You stay on the same page and months, so you can read the same month in each company without picking it again.

All companies has one row per company: Company, Cash, Burn and runway, Closed through and Needs you. Click a row to open that company's books. Accountable never adds the rows into one cash or one runway number, because separate companies can't pay each other's bills, and a combined runway would hide which company is running out.

How to see every company side by side and how to switch companies have the steps.

Three companies cost $198 a month, and Holding is cheaper from eight

One bill covers the whole workspace. Pro includes 2 companies and Holding includes 10, and each extra company is added at a lower price on Holding.

Free covers one company. After the 14-day Pro trial, a workspace on Free keeps its first company fully usable and any other company becomes read-only; nothing is deleted. Annual plans get 2 months free. The pricing page has the calculator, and Holding adds consolidated statements across a group.

Money between your companies is posted on both sides

When one company lends to another, pays a bill for it or charges it a management fee, a New intercompany entry posts both sides in one step. Pick From and To, choose what it is (Expense paid on behalf, Cost share, Loan advance, Loan repayment, Loan interest, Management fee, Capital contribution or Other), preview both companies' entries and press Post.

On Holding, group companies with their ownership percentages and a reporting currency, and Accountable combines their statements and removes what they owe each other. The accounting is explained in intercompany transactions and a loan between two LLCs.

Every company closes by the 1st, and your CPA's seat is free in each

At 12:05 AM on the 1st, in each company's own timezone, the Bookkeeper categorizes what is left, reconciles, drafts the month's entries and writes the month-end report. You approve one batch per company and the month locks.

Your CPA or outside bookkeeper gets an Accountant seat, which is free on every plan and never counts toward your plan. When you invite them, tick the other companies under Also invite to, so one invitation covers all of them.

1. 1

   Step 1: Start free with your first company and connect its bank. Mercury, Brex, Ramp and Stripe connect free on every plan.

2. 2

   Step 2: Press ⌘K and choose Add or move a company, then fill in the new company's details and connect its own bank and cards.

3. 3

   Step 3: Press Control+1 and Control+2 to switch, and Control+0 to see them all.

4. 4

   Step 4: Invite your CPA once and tick every company they should see.