A quick look at how Business Central users can decide on the right solution for intercompany automation,
How do you choose the right intercompany solution? It comes down to a few key factors: How your entities are structured, whether or not the solution can automate the transactions your team still keys by hand, and the kind of reporting capabilities available to you.
Most organizations reach multiple entities through expansion, acquisitions or restructuring, not by design. Finance then carries manual intercompany entries, spreadsheet consolidations and month-end reconciliations that no longer scale. Standard Business Central covers some of this, so the question is what more you need. These six questions help you invest in what you need and skip what you don’t.
Your structure should decide your software, not the other way around. Entities can sit in three arrangements: several entities inside one Business Central company, each entity as its own company, or a mix of both.
Solutions rarely support all three. Dimension-based products suit entities inside one company. Intercompany add-ons are built for separate companies. Native Business Central intercompany covers separate companies only in part. Ask any vendor to show your exact structure, not a simplified one.
Getting this wrong is expensive: changing the structure after go-live means re-implementing. Settle it in discovery, before implementation.
Intercompany automation is more than moving a transaction from one company to another. List the recurring processes across payables, receivables, purchasing, intercompany sales and drop shipments, and note how much manual entry and reconciliation each one takes today.
Then check scope. Some tools automate a single workflow, such as an intercompany sale between two companies. Others cover the full range of intercompany operations. If one workflow really is all you need, a narrower tool may be enough. If your team handles several, a single-purpose tool leaves the rest manual.
Start with the processes that take your team the most time.
Automating transactions solves half the problem. Finance also needs reliable numbers across entities.
Check that the solution produces both individual entity reports and consolidated financials, and that it handles eliminations, which remove intercompany balances so consolidated figures are accurate. Then ask what happens at month end. If consolidation still depends on spreadsheets and manual reconciliation, the same errors and delays return.
Evaluate reporting together with transactions. Treated as separate projects, they often mean a second investment in custom reporting.
The shape of your finance team sets how much control you need. A small, central team usually needs shared visibility and streamlined transactions. A decentralized team may need entity-level access restrictions, master data security, separate period close and allocations. High transaction volumes can add a need for batch processing across entities.
A simple test: if some users shouldn’t see certain entities, or entity owners are responsible for their own close, that is a requirement, not a nice-to-have.
Avoid paying for complexity you won’t use, and avoid overlooking controls your operations depend on.
Financial requirements aren’t the only consideration. Check whether Fixed Assets, Projects, Assembly, Advanced Warehousing, Manufacturing or Service Management need to work across entities.
Not all intercompany solutions extend consistently across these modules. If a module is in use, confirm it is supported before you select a solution. Transactions that post to the wrong entity or stay unassigned create cleanup work later.
Assess financial and operational requirements together.
Choose a solution that meets today’s needs without limiting tomorrow’s. Think through what is likely to change:
Look for a clear expansion path rather than buying advanced functionality before you need it. A solution that scales in steps lets you add control as your structure changes.
Binary Stream Multi-Entity Management (MEM) is built for Business Central and comes in three levels that follow these questions.
Some organizations mainly need to connect entities, automate intercompany transactions and simplify reporting. MEM Basic covers those core requirements, fully embedded in Business Central: one company, several companies or both, automated intercompany transactions, consolidated and entity reporting, eliminations, and central or local payables, receivables and purchasing.
Others need more control or broader operations. MEM Essentials adds control between entities and support for modules such as Fixed Assets, Projects and Advanced Warehousing. MEM Premium extends to Manufacturing and Service Management across entities.
Intercompany works the same way at every level, with Intercompany Suite included in each. The right choice depends on your requirements, not your entity count.
Not necessarily. If you have two entities and one intercompany flow, a simpler tool may be enough. If your entities transact in several ways, or you consolidate manually every month, a purpose-built solution removes that work. Judge by requirements, not entity count.
It depends on the architecture you chose. Some solutions support only one structure, and changing it later means re-implementing. A solution that supports entities in one company, separate companies or both lets your structure evolve without starting over.
No. A group with many entities and a central finance team can have simple requirements. Five entities with separate finance teams may need entity-level security and close. Structure, processes, reporting, control and modules decide.
