What is multi-entity management?

This article explains:

• The benefits of multi-entity management

• How much does multi-entity management cost?

• How to get started

• How admins can switch between entities

• How admins can view their own cards and expenses

• What multi-entity looks like for bookkeepers

• How to create a multi-entity team

The benefits of multi-entity management

• Get a centralised overview of your business spend

Multi-entity management lets admins quickly see 1) how much money is being spent by different entities and 2) how much money is available to each entity in their respective Wallets. This is particularly useful for finance teams who manage spending across entities.

• Create teams with employees across different entities

Imagine that your organisation's Head of Marketing is based in the UK (and thus part of your UK Pleo entity). At the same time, the marketing team is spread across offices in Berlin and Copenhagen. With Pleo's multi-entity teams, the Head of Marketing can review all marketing-related Pleo expenses, despite being employed by a different entity.

How much does multi-entity management cost?

As outlined on our pricing page:

• The Advanced & Beyond plans includes an unlimited number of entities at no additional cost.

If a company activates multi-entity, is there one bill paid by a parent entity, or does each entity get its own bill? Generally speaking, each entity is billed separately. That said, please discuss your preferences with your dedicated account manager. Not sure who your customer success manager is? Get in touch with our support team and they'll connect you to the right person.

How to get started

Admins can request a multi-entity setup with the Pleo web app. Here's how:

1. Click on the name of your company in the top left corner.

2. a) For admins who don't have access to multi-entity yet, click "More companies?" or the plus icon:

   
   

   

   
   

   b) For admins who already use multi-entity, but would like to add another entity, click the plus icon:

   
   

   

   
   

   c) For admins of accountancies that also handle bookkeeping for their clients, but don't use multi-entity for their own company yet, click "More companies?" or the plus icon:

   
   

   

   
   

3. Choose whether you want to add a new entity or group existing companies (merge two companies that already has a Pleo account).

4. Add the company details

5. Wait up to 3 business days for your account manager to contact you to set up your pricing plan. In the meantime, you can continue with the entity verification.

How admins can switch between entities 

Once the functionality has been enabled for two or more entities, all admins from said entities will be able to easily switch between them. Admins are the only ones who get the full overview of all entities. This also means that it's not possible to appoint an admin with limited access (to, say, a single entity).

1. Log onto the Pleo web app.

2. Click on the entity in the top left corner.

3. Click on another entity to switch views:
   
   

How admins can view their own cards and expenses

While admins will have access across entities, their own Pleo card(s) and respective expenses will be connected to a single entity.

• To view your own cards:

1. Regardless of which entity you're looking at, click on your profile picture in the bottom left corner.

2. Click "My cards".

• To view your own expenses:

1. Go to your "home" entity (the one with a house icon next to it):

2. Click on the Expenses tab.

3. To only see your expenses, click "User", type your name, and click "Apply":
   
   

   
   

   

What multi-entity looks like for bookkeepers

Before reading this section, it's important to note that:

• The multi-entity view applies to external bookkeepers and not partner bookkeepers.

• To have a multi-entity view, an external bookkeeper needs to receive a separate invite from each entity.

Switching between entities looks similar to how it does for admins:

1. Click on the company name in the top left corner.

2. Click on different entities to switch between them. You can also get an idea of which clients might need attention based on the number of missing receipts and expenses in the Export queue:
   
   

   

   
   

3. Where different clients are part of the same multi-entity setup, we group those together in the bookkeeper view (e.g., two companies grouped under the "A new organisation" section in the below video).

The view in this example is for an accountancy that has their own Pleo account in addition to helping clients with their Pleo accounts:

How to create a multi-entity team 

Need to create a team with employees from different entities? Once multi-entity is enabled, simply set up a team as you normally would. You'll get a prompt to confirm that you want the team to be multi-entity:

Anyone can be on a multi-entity team and be a reviewer of a multi-entity team; even if their role is employee and not admin. A reviewer can see expenses from a multi-entity team using their usual login credentials, without having to switch back and forth.