Last updated 2026-04-25
Business entities & FX
A single OtiumWork company can have any number of business entities (legal entities, country branches, subsidiaries). Employees, clients, projects, invoices, vendor bills, contracts, and IP all attach to a specific entity. Finance reports roll across all entities at the company level — using FX rates you maintain per month — while individual records stay scoped to their entity.
/finance/entities is where you manage them.
Why it matters
If you operate in multiple countries you need per-entity books for tax + statutory reporting. But you also want one consolidated company view: total margin, total AR, total cash, total payroll. Multi-entity gives you both: each transaction lives in one entity, and the reports translate everything to the reporting currency (default USD) using the FX rate for the month the transaction landed in.
Setup
- Add entities —
/finance/entities → + Add entity. Name (e.g., "SoftInWay USA"), country, base currency, optional default hourly cost. Tick Default for the entity that pre-fills new employee records. - Assign existing data — every employee, client, project, contract, etc. has an entity dropdown. Bulk-edit on the entity page if needed.
- Enter FX rates monthly —
/finance/entities → FXtab. For each non-USD entity, enter the average rate for the month (e.g.,INR → USD = 0.012for April 2026). Reports for that month convert at this rate.
If an FX rate for the month is missing, the rollup falls back to the last-seen rate for that pair, then to 1.0 (and warns you on the dashboard).
How records inherit entity
| Record | Entity comes from |
|---|---|
| Employee | Set on the employee form (admin or finance-flag holders) |
| Project | Set when creating the project; inherits client's entity if blank |
| Time entry | Inherits employee's entity at the moment of capture |
| Client | Set on the client record |
| Invoice / sale | Inherits project's entity |
| Vendor bill (mailbox / QB) | Set per-mailbox or per-QB-realm (one entity per source) |
| Contract / IP / insurance / litigation | Tagged on creation |
Reports
- Per-entity — most finance pages let you filter by entity in the top bar. Departments, profitability, sales, commissions, R&D all support it.
- Consolidated — leave the entity filter empty and the report converts every entity's local-currency amount to the reporting currency at the month's FX rate, then sums.
- QuickBooks — each entity connects to its own QBO realm. Per-entity sync; no cross-entity contamination.
Permissions
- Admin or
has_finance_accessflag — full access to entity setup, FX rates, and assignments. - Anyone else — read-only entity name on records they already see (e.g., on a project or contract); no setup access.
See Roles for the access model.
Tips
- Enter the previous month's FX rate as soon as the month closes — rollups stay accurate
- Don't change an entity's base currency after you start using it (no automated re-conversion of historical records)
- Use Default to pick the entity new employees go to — saves clicks during onboarding
See something wrong or outdated in this article? Report it →