Add a new entity account for a subsidiary and control who can do what by assigning the right roles to your team.
For: Organisation Owners, Account Owners, and Admins.
Before you start
Adding a new entity account requires the Organisation Owner role.
Assigning most roles requires the Account Owner or Administrator role.
Only the Account Owner can assign the "Administrator" role to a user once an invitation has been sent.
Each Spendesk company can have only one Account Owner and one Organisation Owner.
The Organisation Owner must be a member of all the companies, but doesn’t have to be the Account Owner for each of them.
Role overview
Role | Who can hold it | Key permissions |
Organisation Owner | One person per organisation | Opens new entity accounts; transferable via a dedicated request |
Account Owner | One person per entity | Full access to the entity, including assigning the Admin role |
Administrator | Multiple members | Configures settings, approval policies, and invites or manages members (except the Admin role) |
Controller | Multiple members | Manages accounting, payments, budgets, and accounting integrations |
Requester | Multiple members | Creates requests, makes payments, and views their own data |
Add a new entity account
Opening an account for a new subsidiary creates a new entity that can support a different currency (for example, EUR, GBP, or USD).
Option 1
Click your entity's name in the top-left corner of the screen.
Select "Add an account".
Option 2
Navigate to Settings > Spendesk plan > Company plan and invoices.
Click Add an account.
Complete the form with your new entity's details.
Click to validate and submit the form.
Once the entity account is created, invite members to it using the standard invitation process described below.
🔒 Access: Only the user with the Organisation Owner role can open a new entity account.
Assign or edit a member's role
Invite a new member and set their role
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Members.
Click Invite a Member.
Enter the member's name and email address.
Select the role(s) to assign from the Role dropdown.
Click to send the invitation.
By default, invited members receive the Requester role. You can combine it with other roles at any time.
You must be the Account Owner to assign the Administrator role. As an Administrator, you may only assign the Requester and Controler roles.
Edit an existing member's role
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Members.
Select the member whose role you want to change.
Click Edit member’s profile > Role.
Select the role(s) you want to assign.
Click to save your changes.
👥 Roles: Only Account Owners can assign the "Administrator" role after an invitation has been sent. Administrators can update all other roles but cannot grant the Admin role themselves.
📋 Best practice: If a member needs a fully separate identity for a role (for example, an Admin who also wants a personal Requester login), invite that role using a different email address. For most cases, assigning multiple roles directly to the same account is simpler and recommended.
Assign multiple roles to a single user
A single user can hold several roles at once (for example, Requester and Controller) under one login, in the same entity.
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Members.
Select the user whose roles you want to update.
Click Edit member’s profile > Role.
Select every role you want to assign to this user.
Click Save changes.
Give a user access to another entity in your organisation
If your organisation has several entities, you can invite the same person to more than one entity using the same email address. This lets them switch between entities without logging out.
Switch to the entity you want to add the user to.
Navigate to Settings > Organisation > Members.
Click Invite new members.
Enter the same email address already used for this person in the other entity.
Select the role(s) to assign.
Click Send invitation.
Give a user access to a different Spendesk organisation
If the person needs access to an entity that belongs to a completely different Spendesk organisation, they cannot reuse the same email address, since one email address cannot be linked to two different organisations.
Ask the person for an alternate email address, or create an alias (for example, name+2@company.com).
In the second organisation, navigate to Settings > Organisation > Members.
Click Invite new members.
Enter the alternate email address.
Select the role(s) to assign.
Click Send invitation.
💡 Tip: If your email provider supports aliases, add a symbol like "+2" to the existing address (for example, name+2@company.com) instead of creating a brand-new inbox.
Troubleshooting
Symptom: You can't select "Add a new account" from the top-left menu.
Cause: You don't have the Organisation Owner role.
Resolution: Ask your current Organisation Owner to add the entity, or request a permanent transfer of the Organisation Owner role.
Symptom: You can't assign the "Admin" role to a member.
Cause: Only the Account Owner can grant the Admin role after an invitation has been sent. Administrators can't assign it, even to themselves.
Resolution: Ask your Account Owner to go to Settings > Organisation > Members, select the member, then click Edit member’s profile > Role and assign "Admin".
Symptom: You need to change who holds the Account Owner or Organisation Owner role.
Cause: These roles are exclusive to one person per entity or organisation and can't be edited from the Members list.
Resolution: Follow the Transfer the Account / Organization Owner roles guide.
Symptom: You need to add a member but you’re getting an error message about their email address being used as part of another organisation.
Cause: By default, an email address cannot be used on several organizations at the time.
Resolution: Please contact support / your Customer Success Manager
When to contact support?
Contact your Customer Success Manager or the Spendesk billing team if the "Add a new account" option doesn't appear despite having the Organisation Owner role, or if a new entity account fails to activate after submitting the form.