Multi-entity invoices: how to route them

In groups of companies, cooperatives or businesses with subsidiaries, a single team often handles invoices for every entity. They share an inbox, many suppliers and often the same way of working. Before anything is posted, someone has to decide which company each invoice belongs to.

Where manual routing goes wrong

• A supplier that invoices several companies in the group.
• An invoice addressed to one entity that lands in another’s inbox.
• Similar legal names across companies in the same group.
• Tax ID changes after mergers, spin-offs or restructuring.
• The same person posting into several companies or ERPs.

A routing error shows up late: the invoice is posted to the wrong entity, payment leaves the wrong account and everything has to be undone.

The recipient’s tax ID is the key

Every invoice states who it is addressed to: the customer’s tax ID and legal name. Reading that field and matching it against the group’s list of entities, including secondary tax IDs, routes most invoices without anyone stepping in. Those without a clear recipient go to review, with the reason flagged.

Shared rules, each entity in its own ERP

Centralising doesn’t mean mixing. Ideally the whole group applies the same validation rules, tolerances and approvals, while each invoice is posted to the right entity and ERP, even when the group runs different systems. Finaro for groups of companies.

Everyone sees what is theirs

With several entities, permissions matter: each person should see and approve only the invoices for their entities and suppliers. That way the work can be centralised without losing control per company. How we protect your data.

When the group changes

Mergers, new entities and tax ID changes are when routing goes wrong most often. Keep the list of entities and tax IDs up to date, and make sure the change is applied in one go to the history and the affected suppliers, not invoice by invoice.