Add a new account and manage user roles
Create a new Spendesk account for another entity or subsidiary, and assign one or more roles to your team members.
For: Organisation Owners, Account Owners, and Administrators.
Table of Contents
Before you start
Role overview
Add a new account for a subsidiary or entity
Assign multiple roles to a single user
Give a user access to another entity in your organisation
Give a user access to a different Spendesk organisation
Troubleshooting
Related articles
Before you start
Creating a new account for a subsidiary requires the Organisation Owner role.
Assigning roles to a user requires the Administrator or Account Owner role.
Only the Account Owner can assign the Admin role to a user, even after the invitation has been sent.
Each Spendesk organisation requires a unique email address per user. You cannot link the same email address to two different Spendesk organisations.
Role overview
Role | Who it's for |
Organisation Owner | The only person who can open new Spendesk entities. One per organisation. |
Account Owner | The super user for an entity. Can do everything Admins and Controllers can do, plus a few extra permissions. One per entity. |
Administrator | Configures the account and manages users. |
Controller | Manages accounting and bookkeeping tasks. |
Requester | Submits requests and makes payments. |
👥 Roles: Only the Organisation Owner can create a new Spendesk entity (account) for a subsidiary.
For the full list of permissions per role, see Understand roles and permissions.
Add a new account for a subsidiary or entity
Opening an account for a different subsidiary creates a new branch that supports its own currency (for example, EUR, GBP, or USD).
Option 1:
Click the entity name in the top-left corner of the screen.
Select "Add a new account".
Select the country where the new entity is based.
Select the currency for the new account.
Complete the business information form.
Submit the form for verification.
Option 2:
Navigate to Settings > Spendesk plan > Company plan and invoices.
Click "Add an account".
Fill out the form with the relevant information for your new entity.
Click "Validate" to confirm.
After the new account is created, invite Administrators through Settings > Organisation > Members to manage the new entity.
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 profile" > "Roles".
Select every role you want to assign to this user.
Click "Save".
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: "This email is already in use" when inviting a user.
Cause: The email address is already linked to an account in a different Spendesk organisation.
Resolution: Use a different email address or an alias for the new organisation. If both entities belong to the same organisation, invite the user with the same email address instead.Symptom: You cannot assign the "Admin" role to a user.
Cause: Only Account Owners can assign the Admin role once an invitation has been sent. Administrators cannot grant it.
Resolution: Ask your Account Owner to go to Settings > Organisation > Members > Edit profile > Roles and assign the Admin role.Symptom: The "Add a new account" option is missing or greyed out.
Cause: Only the Organisation Owner can create a new entity.
Resolution: Ask your Organisation Owner to create the account, or request a transfer of the Organisation Owner role. See Transfer the Account / Organization Owner roles.