Determining the need to define multiple companies

You can define a single company, which can include multiple legal entities, or you can define up to 9,999 separate companies that can be consolidated for reporting and inquiry. Review these questions as you determine if you need to define more than one company.

If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, then you might want to define multiple general ledger companies for your organization. If you answer no to all or most of the questions, then you can probably define a single company for your organization and define each division as an accounting unit.

• Do divisions in your organization act as independent entities, such as subsidiaries in a holding company?

• Do divisions in your organization require individual periodic processing, such as closing accounting periods on different days of the month?

• Do divisions in your organization use different charts of accounts to post journal entries?

• Do divisions in your organization require different base operating currencies?

• Do divisions in your organization operate with different fiscal calendars?

• Do you require major security safeguards for each of your divisions?

• Do you use other Lawson subsystems applications that would benefit from having multiple GL companies? See How Does General Ledger Setup Impact Subsystems?.

• Do you anticipate significant growth in your company?

Multiple companies example

This example shows a sample company structure that uses multiple companies. LGE Corporation has four divisions: Headquarters, Hospitals, Clinics, and Retail. LGE Corporation defined multiple General Ledger companies for their organization, one company for each division. Each company is further defined through the use of accounting units.