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This text refers to program version 4.3  

Introduction

A FirstOffice database can contain more than one Company. This feature can be useful if your business is one where there are separate departments or subsidiary companies that keep separate accounts. These can be set up as separate accounting entities in FirstOffice. Each department or subsidiary is termed a 'Company'.

Note that you should only use this feature to differentiate between different departments if you intend to account for each of them separately. If you keep a single set of accounts covering your whole organisation, you only need have a single Company in your database.

Companies are stored in the Company register in the System module. You can add new Companies at any time: this process is described on the Changing and Adding Companies page. If you have more than one Company in your Company register, it is recommended that you specify a Short Code for each one:

Each time you log in to FirstOffice, you will be asked to choose a Company to work with:

The names in this list are taken from the Name field in the Company register.

Once you have logged in, the Short Code of the Company ("H" in the example illustrated) will be included in the title of every window:

If you need to change Companies, there is no need to quit FirstOffice and restart. Instead, you can click the [Companies] button in the Master Control panel or select 'Company' from the File menu and then select the new Company. Once you have done this, the Short Code in the window title identifies the Company to which the information in each window belongs:

In this illustration, the 'Transactions: Browse' window lists Transactions belonging to Company H, while the 'Accounts: Browse' window lists Accounts belonging to Company S. Only one Master Control panel can be open at any time, so the Short Code in its title ("S" in the illustration) is always that of the current Company. This is the Company whose information will be shown in any new windows that you open, and the Company in which any new records that you create will be saved. If you want to return to work in Company H, use the 'Company' function on the File menu once again.

If you need to make a change to a record in a particular Company, that Company must be your current Company. For example, you have a Customer record from Company H open in a record window. If Company S is your current Company, you will not be able to make changes to the Customer record. You must change to Company H first, using the 'Company' function on the File menu.

Usually, each Company will be completely separate: there will be no common information. If you want to copy information from one Company to another, you can do so using one of two methods:

1. by dragging and dropping. For example, to copy a Customer record from one Company to another, open the 'Customers: Browse' window in the first Company, change to the second Company using the 'Company' function on the File menu, and open the 'Customers: Browse' window in that Company as well. Then click on the relevant Customer record and drag it from one browse window to the other. This method is suitable for copying individual records. The Payment Terms used in the copied Customer must exist in both Companies.
   

2. using the export and import functions in the System module. This method is suitable for transferring the entire contents of a register or setting from one Company to another.

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