Business Central for UK Multi-Entity Groups
Multi-entity groups — holdcos, franchise operators, federated brands, group structures with consolidated VAT — are where standard BC starts to creak. BC's company model is good at one set of books per legal entity; group-level VAT, allocations, and reporting need work that BC doesn't ship out of the box. This is the use case our extensions were originally designed for.
What we configure
One BC company per legal entity, with a consistent Chart of Accounts and dimension structure across the group so consolidation and intercompany are mechanical, not manual. BC's Intercompany postings module handles the easy AP/AR cases; we layer extensions on for the harder ones (recharges, allocations, consolidated VAT).
The hard parts (and how we solve them)
- Consolidated VAT MTD. If the group shares a single HMRC VRN, BC's standard VAT engine can't aggregate across companies. Our UK Group VAT MTD Bridge aggregates VAT entries across BC companies and submits a single MTD-compliant return.
- Central overhead recharges. Configurable allocation keys (headcount, revenue, square footage) drive automated recharge journals across companies — manual spreadsheet maintenance disappears. Solved by our Multi-Entity Allocation extension.
- Intercompany journals at scale. When a group does dozens of intercompany transactions a month, BC's standard form is too slow. Our Mass Journal Paste handles batch entry with inline validation.
- Group reporting. Consolidation in Power BI off the BC GL using consistent dimensions across companies — month-end consolidation in days, not weeks.
Typical engagement
3–6 months for a group implementation depending on entity count, intercompany volume, and reporting complexity. Existing BC groups often start with our extensions in isolation — we deploy the Group VAT MTD Bridge in 2–3 weeks if BC is already running.