What is multi-entity bookkeeping?
Separate ledgers, intercompany entries and a consolidated view that agrees.
Australian groups end up multi-entity for reasons baked into how advisers here structure things from day one: a corporate trustee over a discretionary trust running the operating business, a separate unit trust holding the property it trades from, or a holding company over two or three subsidiaries after an acquisition. Each entity has its own ABN, its own GST registration (or a shared one, if the group has elected GST grouping), and its own set of books. The bookkeeping question is the one every multi-entity file runs into: do the entities agree with each other, and can each stand on its own when its BAS or return is due.
The trigger is almost always the registered tax agent or BAS agent asking, not a bookkeeping preference. A trust needs its distribution schedule ready before 30 June; a trading company needs a clean trial balance for its company return; and if the group has elected to lodge as a GST group under Division 48 of the GST Act, the representative member needs every subsidiary's GST figures reconciled before the single group BAS goes in.
Why it matters
| Without a system | With CapEasy |
|---|---|
| Month-end arrives whenever someone gets to it | Books closed on a fixed date, in the same shape every month |
| Unexplained transactions pile up in a suspense account until year-end | Every account reconciled to the statement, with discrepancies explained not plugged |
| Your accountant bills you to fix bookkeeping before they can do their own work | A short questions list instead of a year-end archaeology project |
| You cannot answer "how did we do last month" without a week of digging | Whoever files opens a finished file |
What we need from you
Financial
- Bank and card statements
- Sales invoices
- Supplier bills
- Expense receipts
- Payroll summaries
- Loan statements
System
- Chart of accounts
- Opening balances
- Accounting software access (read/write, least privilege)
- Multi-currency details if applicable
Context
- Prior period financial statements
- Your accountant’s coding preferences
- Anything unusual we should expect
How it runs, step by step
- Transaction recording & classification
- Daily transaction entry
- Revenue and expense categorisation
- Capital vs operating classification
- Ledger & trial balance
- General ledger review
- Sub-ledger reconciliation
- Chart of accounts restructuring
- Reconciliation
- Monthly bank and card reconciliation
- Discrepancy investigation, with a written explanation
- Multi-account and multi-entity reconciliation
- Catch-up & clean-up
- Working back from the last clean period
- An honest read on how far back the records support
- Rebuilding to current
Who does what
| Your CapEasy team | Multi-entity bookkeeping, the reconciliations and reporting behind it, and the questions list that keeps it honest. |
| Your registered BAS or tax agent | Everything that carries a licence in Australia — rendered exactly as written: work out what goes on your bas, or advise you on it — under tasa 2009 that requires registration we do not hold. |
| You | One conversation with one named person, and the decisions that are genuinely yours. |
Multi-entity bookkeeping in Australia
Each entity holds its own ABN and its own BAS cycle
A trading company, its corporate trustee, and a separate property trust are three ABN holders, each with its own GST registration and BAS due date — quarterly for most, monthly for larger turnover. We keep each entity's ledger structurally separate even when one bookkeeper runs all three, because folding them into one file with class tracking makes it impossible to hand the BAS agent a standalone GST figure for the entity actually due.
GST grouping is the agent's election
Division 48 of the GST Act lets related, commonly-owned entities register as a single GST group with one representative member lodging one BAS, so intercompany supplies between members fall outside GST. Whether the group is registered this way is a decision the BAS or tax agent lodges with the ATO. We code every intercompany transaction to match whichever state the group is actually in, and flag it if a new entity joins without the grouping being updated.
Intercompany loans sit inside Division 7A's shadow
A loan or unpaid amount from a private company to an associated trust, entity, or shareholder can be deemed an unfranked dividend under Division 7A of the ITAA 1936 unless it's on a complying loan agreement. We record every intercompany loan and unpaid present entitlement with its date, amount, and terms — whether a balance triggers Division 7A is assessed by the tax agent, and we flag new or growing balances to them rather than let one sit unreviewed to 30 June.
Tax consolidation and ASIC obligations run per entity, not per group
A wholly-owned group of resident companies can elect under Part 3-90 of the ITAA 1997 to be treated as one entity for income tax, even though each subsidiary still lodges its own BAS. That election is set up by the tax agent. Separately, every proprietary company in the structure carries its own ASIC annual review date and fee; we flag it if a lodgement looks overdue in what we're reconciling, but the officeholder or their registered agent handles the filing.
What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us
- A reconciled trial balance for each entity, on its own chart of accounts, ready for BAS or year-end use
- An intercompany schedule showing every loan, unpaid distribution, and cross-charge, both sides shown side by side
- Confirmation that each intercompany pair nets to zero, or a documented explanation of the variance
- A management-fee or cross-charge log showing the basis used and whether GST applies under the group's grouping status
- Entity-level BAS-ready GST reports, coded consistently with the group's GST-grouped or ungrouped status
- A shared-cost allocation worksheet where rent, payroll, or overheads are split across entities
