Books are one organization's accounting records: its chart of accounts, funds, journal entries, bills, budgets, bank feeds and period closes.
Each organization keeps its own books. If your account has one active organization, there is nothing to split and Accounting works as it always has. Once your account has two or more active organizations, the books split, and every page under Accounting works on one organization at a time.
Note: Archiving back down to one organization does not always end the split. The books stay split for as long as the archived organization still owns a journal entry. Giving stays split while the archived organization still owns gifts, batches, recurring gifts, pledges or journal entries.
Choosing whose books you are working in
While the books are split, Accounting pages show an Accounting for: strip at the top. It names the organization whose books you are looking at. If you can work in several, it is a drop-down; if only one, it shows that organization's name.
The strip offers:
Each active organization in your campus selector where you hold Full Read Accounting at one or more campuses.
Then each archived organization that still owns entries, if you can read its whole book.
Add-on seats play no part in what the strip offers. Your browser remembers the last organization you chose. Opening a record from another organization's books switches the strip and tells you so.
The campus selector still works inside the books. Lists show entries at the campuses you have selected, plus entries that belong to the whole organization.
If the strip says there are no books
Your campus selector leaves out every organization where you hold Full Read Accounting. Use Change Lens on the strip to widen it. What is the campus selector? explains how the selector works.
What each organization keeps for itself
Fiscal year start and accounting method - a new organization starts with a January fiscal year on the accrual method. Fiscal quarters follow each organization's own year.
Chart of accounts, funds and tag groups - never shared between organizations. Account numbers only need to be unique inside one organization's books.
Budgets - a budget belongs to one organization, and every account, fund and tag group on it must too.
Bank feeds and rules - a bank account belongs to its register account's organization, and a rule only touches its own organization's registers.
Checks - each organization has its own check templates and its own check numbering.
Period closes - closing a period closes one organization's books. The other organizations are untouched.
What never crosses between organizations
A journal entry never spans two organizations. Every account, fund and tag on it must belong to the entry's organization.
There is no due-to, due-from or inter-organization transfer. Fund transfers across organizations, entry lines from two organizations, payments, merges, bank feeds, budgets and combined checks that mix organizations are all refused.
Bills and invoices belong to one organization, and paying bills of two organizations together is refused. Vendors are people profiles, so they belong to no organization.
A batch posts to a deposit account in its own organization, so batches of two organizations cannot close and post together.
Tip: To move money from one organization to another, record each side separately. Enter the money leaving in the first organization's books, then enter the money arriving as a separate entry in the second organization's books.
Gifts follow the same rule: each one belongs to exactly one organization. Which organization does a gift belong to? explains how that is decided.
Reports and widgets
While the books are split, no accounting report reads two organizations together. Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Activities, Budget to Actual, Trial Balance, Transaction List, General Ledger and Expenses by Vendor Summary each read one organization, and there is no all-organizations option. Reports and exports are headed with the organization's name.
Accounting dashboard widgets also read one organization's books, and every viewer needs Full Read Accounting. A viewer who cannot read those books sees You don't have access to [organization]'s books.
Staff limited to some campuses
Limited staff can write entries at the campuses they reach.
Accounts and funds have no campus, so limited staff see the organization's whole chart of accounts.
Registers show only the entries in their reach, but balances always cover the whole set of books. A notice saying so appears on Reconciliations, Accounting Periods, Chart of Accounts, Funds and registers.
Reconciling a bank account or closing a period needs the permission at every campus of that organization, so a campus-limited person can only do it when their limit covers all of them.
Archived books
When an organization is archived, its books stay readable but cannot be changed. Archived books appear in the Accounting for: strip with an archived label, for people who hold Full Read Accounting at every campus. They are always shown whole, and the save buttons are hidden.
Every write to an archived organization's books is refused. Nobody, Super Users included, can change a record that belongs only to archived organizations. How do I archive an organization? explains the rest.
Accounting seats
With more than one organization, Accounting is an add-on seat. You can open Accounting if any organization you reach holds a seat, but saving entries, bills or budgets to an organization without one is refused. How do add-on seats work? explains how to assign seats.