Set Up Intercompany Transaction Posting

Intercompany postings make accounting for two or more companies an easier task for a centralized finance department and bookkeepers in intercompany partner companies. To send a transaction (such as a sales journal line) from one company and have the corresponding transaction (such as a purchase journal line) automatically created in the partner company, the companies involved must agree on a common chart of accounts and set of dimensions to use with intercompany transactions. The intercompany chart of accounts can be, for example, a simplified version of the parent company's chart of accounts. Each company maps their full chart of accounts to the shared intercompany chart of accounts, and each company maps their dimensions to the intercompany dimensions.

You must also set up an intercompany partner code for each Business Central company, which is agreed upon by all of the companies, and then assign that to customer and vendor cards, respectively.

If you create or receive intercompany lines with items, you can either use your own item numbers, or you can set up your partner's item numbers for each relevant item, either in the Vendor Item No. field or in the Common Item No. field on the item card. You can also use the Item Reference function to map your items' numbers to your intercompany partners descriptions of the items, open the card of each item, and then choose the Item References action to set up references between your item descriptions and those of the intercompany partner. For more information, see Use Item References.

If you will make intercompany sales transactions that include resources, you must fill in the IC Partner Purch. G/L Acc. No. field on the resource card for each relevant resource. This is the number of the intercompany general ledger account that the amount for this resource will be posted to in your partner's company. For more information, see Set Up Resources.

[!NOTE] Intercompany purchase transactions that include resources, fixed assets, and item charges are not fully supported. In your intercompany partner's company, the Line Type field will be blank on purchase document lines that include these entities. You must manually update the field.

To set up a company for intercompany transactions

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Setup, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Setup page, fill in the fields. Hover over a field to read a short description.

[!NOTE] 2022 release wave 1 introduces a new Intercompany Setup page so that you can also specify if this company must automatically create journal lines based on an intercompany partner's posts from the IC General Journal page. If your organization has used Business Central before this release wave, you must switch on the new experience in the Feature Management page. For more information, see Auto-accept transactions for intercompany journals.

In versions older than 2022 release wave 1, you must fill in three intercompany-related fields in the Company Information page instead.

To set up intercompany partners

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Partners, and then choose the related link.
Choose the New action.
On the Intercompany Partner page, fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all other companies that are part of this intercompany setup.

[!NOTE] In Business Central does not have access to your local network. Therefore, if you choose File Location in the Transfer Type field, the Folder Path field is not available. Instead, the file will be downloaded to the Downloads folder on your computer. You then send the file to someone in the partner company, for example, by email. For a more direct process, we recommend that you choose Email instead.

To set up intercompany vendors and intercompany customers

Choose the icon, enter Vendors, and then choose the related link.
Alternatively, access the vendor from the Vendor No. field on the Intercompany Partner page.
Open the card for a vendor that is an intercompany partner. For more information, see Register New Vendors.
In the Intercompany Partner Code field, select the relevant intercompany partner code.
Repeat steps 1 through 4 for customers.

To set up intercompany charts of accounts

In order for a group of companies to make intercompany transactions, they must agree on a chart of accounts to use as a common reference. You must agree with your partner companies on the account numbers that you'll all use when you create intercompany transactions. For example, the parent company of the group creates a simplified version of their own chart of accounts, then exports it to an XML file that it distributes it to each company in the group.

If the chart of accounts for your company defines the intercompany chart of accounts for your partner companies, follow the process described in To set up the defining intercompany chart of accounts.

If your company is a subsidiary company and you receive an XML file containing the common intercompany chart of accounts, follow the To import the intercompany chart of accounts procedure.

To set up the defining intercompany chart of accounts

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Chart of Accounts page, enter each account on a line on the page.
If your intercompany chart of accounts will be identical or similar to your regular chart of accounts, you can fill on the page automatically by choosing the Copy from Chart of Accounts action. You can edit the new lines as needed.

To export an intercompany chart of accounts

To allow your intercompany partners to import the defining chart of accounts, you must export it to a file.

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Chart of Accounts page, choose the Export action, and then choose the Save button.
Specify the file name and the location where you want to save the XML file, and then choose the Save button.

To import the intercompany chart of accounts

When a file exists for defining the intercompany chart of accounts, intercompany partners can import it to make sure they have the same accounts.

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Chart of Accounts page, choose the Import action.
Select the file name and location of the XML file, and then choose the Open button.

The IC Chart of Accounts page is filled with new or edited G/L account lines according to the intercompany chart of accounts in the file. Any existing, unrelated lines on the page remain unchanged.

To map the intercompany chart of accounts to your company's chart of accounts

When you've defined or imported the intercompany chart of accounts that you and your intercompany partners have agreed to use, you must associate each of the intercompany G/L accounts with one of your company's G/L accounts. On the IC Chart of Accounts page, you specify how intercompany G/L accounts on incoming transactions will be translated into G/L accounts from your company's chart of accounts.

If the accounts in the intercompany chart of accounts have the same numbers as the corresponding accounts in the chart of accounts, you can map the accounts automatically.

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
Select the lines that you want to map automatically, and then choose the Map to Acc. with Same No action.
For each intercompany general ledger account that wasn't mapped automatically, fill in the Map-to G/L Acc. No. field.

To set up default intercompany partner general ledger accounts

When you create an intercompany sales or purchase line to send as an outgoing transaction, you enter an account from the intercompany chart of accounts as a default for which account in your partner's company the amount is posted to. On the Chart of Accounts page, for accounts that you regularly use on outgoing intercompany sales or purchase lines, you can specify a default intercompany partner general ledger account. For example, for your receivables accounts, you can enter the corresponding payables accounts from the intercompany chart of accounts.

Then, when you enter a general ledger account in the Bal. Account No. field on an intercompany line with Intercompany Partner in the Account Type field, the IC Partner G/L Account field is automatically filled in.

Choose the icon, enter Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.
On the line for a G/L account that is used for intercompany transactions, in the Default IC Partner G/L Account field, enter the intercompany general ledger account that your partner will post to when you post to the general ledger account on the line.
Repeat step 2 for each account that you often enter in the Bal. Account No. field on a line in an intercompany journal or document.

To set up intercompany dimensions

If you and your intercompany partners want to to exchange transactions with dimensions linked to them, you must agree on the dimensions that all of you will use. For example, the parent company of the group creates a simplified version of their own set of dimensions, exports them to an XML file that it distributes to each company in the group. Each of the subsidiaries then imports the XML file into the Intercompany Dimensions page and maps the intercompany dimensions to the dimensions in their own Dimensions page.

[!NOTE] Each company in Business Central must map dimensions to intercompany dimensions for outgoing documents, and map intercompany dimensions to their own dimensions for incoming documents. This mapping helps assure consistency across the companies. For more information, see the To map intercompany dimensions to your company's dimensions section.

If your company is the parent company and has the defining set of intercompany dimensions that your group will use as a common reference, follow the To define the intercompany dimensions procedure.

If your company is a subsidiary company and you receive an XML file containing the intercompany dimensions that your group will use as a common reference, follow the To import intercompany dimensions procedure.

To define the intercompany dimensions

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Dimensions, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Dimensions page, enter each dimension on a line on the page.

If your intercompany dimensions will be similar or identical to your company dimensions, you can fill on the page automatically by using the Copy from Dimensions function, and then you can edit the resulting lines.
To export the intercompany dimensions to an XML file for distribution to your partner companies, choose the Export action.
Specify the file name and the location where you want to save the XML file, and then choose the Save button.

To import the intercompany dimensions

When a file exists for the defining intercompany dimensions, intercompany partners can import it to make sure they have the same dimensions.

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Dimensions, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Dimensions page, choose the Import action.
Specify the file name and location of the XML file, and then choose the Open button.

The lines on the Intercompany Dimensions page and the Intercompany Dimension Values page are imported.

To map intercompany dimensions to your company's dimensions

When you've defined or imported the dimensions that you and your intercompany partners have agreed to use, you must associate each of the intercompany dimensions with one of your company's dimensions, and vice versa. On the Intercompany Dimensions page, you specify how intercompany dimensions on incoming transactions will be translated into dimensions from your company's list of dimensions. On the Dimensions page, you specify how your dimensions will be translated into intercompany dimensions on outgoing transactions.

If any of the intercompany dimensions have the same code as the corresponding dimensions in your company's list of dimensions, then you can have application automatically map the dimensions, then you can map the accounts automatically.

In the following steps, you first map intercompany dimensions to dimensions for incoming documents in the Intercompany Dimensions page. Then, you map dimensions to intercompany dimensions for outgoing documents in the Dimensions page.

Choose the icon, enter Intercompany Dimensions, and then choose the related link.
On the Intercompany Dimensions page, select the lines that you want to automatically map, and then choose the Map to Dim. with Same Code action.'
For each intercompany dimension that isn't mapped automatically, fill in the Map-to Dimension Code field.

You may have to add the field to your view. For more information, see Personalize Your Workspace.
Choose the Intercompany Dimension Values action.
On the Intercompany Dimension Values page, fill in the Map-to Dimension Value Code field.

Proceed to map dimensions to intercompany dimensions by performing similar steps.
Choose the icon, enter Dimensions, and then choose the related link.
On the Dimensions page, select the lines that you want to automatically map, and then choose the Map to IC Dim. with Same Code action.
For each intercompany dimension that isn't mapped automatically, fill in the Map-to IC Dimension Value Code field.
Choose the Dimension Values action.
On the Dimension Values page, fill in the Map-to IC Dimension Value Code field.

ms.topic: include ms.date: 12/20/2021 ms.author: edupont

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