Inactivate or delete an entity

In a multi-entity shared company, entities represent a separate tax identification or a separately secured, fully balancing set of books. Entities typically represent divisions, franchises, affiliates, associations, locations, chapters, self-balancing funds or subsidiaries, with a shared chart of accounts.

A multi-entity shared company includes one or more entities under the top level. The company has a set of data lists that's shared among all entities. These shared data lists include users, chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, and employees. Administrators define the shared data lists once at the top level and use them throughout the entities in the company. Administrators use the top level to manage entities and their data.

Alternatively, administrators can restrict to working at the entity level only users and master data list members such as suppliers, customers, and employees. Administrators can even restrict users to working only in particular entities.

An example of a multi-entity shared company is a property management company. One entity represents the company's corporate headquarters and each managed property is represented by its own separate entity.

Sometimes, you might not need to use an entity anymore, in which case you might want to delete it. However, Sage Intacct strongly cautions against deleting an entity, because doing so can be damaging to your historical data and reports. You're better off inactivating the entity instead.

Before you inactivate an entity, there are some things to consider.

To access this page:

• Go to Company > Setup > Entities.

Considerations before you inactivate an entity

Consider the following before inactivating an entity:

• Zero out the entity's general ledger accounts: Ensure all entity balance sheet accounts are driven to 0.
• Inactive entities are open to all: Ensure whatever data is in the entity you want to inactivate can be shared with anyone at the top level.
• Enable reports to be generated on an inactive entity: Create a dimension group for all entities you plan to inactivate.
• Entity transactions before inactivation: Reconcile any open transactions related to the entity you plan to inactivate, for example, receive or pay cash to close out any open AP or AR transactions.
• Dependent records: Re-assign or remove any dependent records. If a user has permissions to view only the entity you want to inactivate, after you inactivate the entity, the user will be able to access all entities by default. You can avoid this by change the user's access to another entity before inactivating the current entity.
• User entity restrictions: If some users are restricted to the entity you plan to inactivate, you'll need to remove these restrictions and restrict these users to a different entity.
• 1099s and entity-owned supplier records: Inactive entity data remains available for tax purposes.

Zero out the entity's general ledger accounts

Before you inactivate an entity, ensure you drive to 0 all balance sheet accounts. If you were to sell an entity, for example, you would want to ensure the entity would have no impact on the balance sheet going forward. The same is true before inactivating an entity.

Inactive entities are open to all

When you inactivate an entity, the entity is no longer secure. This means that after you inactivate it, anyone at the top level can report on the inactive entity. Before you inactivate an entity, it's a good idea to examine the data within it, to be certain you can shared it safely with anyone at the top level.

Enable reports to be generated on an inactive entity

When you inactivate an entity within a multi-entity shared environment, you can still generate financial reports for the inactive entity when you deselect Hide inactives. Drive all balance sheets to zero before generating financial reports.

Driving the balance sheet to zero ensures the accuracy of balance sheet reporting when you include the inactive entity in a prior or future period.

Before you inactivate any entities, create a location group that includes all entities you plan to inactivate by location, for example. This location group will enable you to report only the entities you inactivate, after you inactivate them. You'll still see your inactive entities reported on in any General Ledger and Trial Balance reports you run.

Entity transactions before inactivation

After you inactivate the entity, Sage Intacct will no longer create and process any AP purchase invoices in relation to the entity. Nor will you be able to access the transactional data for the inactive entity, except for financial reports that contain the entity. You won't be able to act on any open transactions within the inactive entity.

This means you need to complete all payments and transactions before you inactivate the entity. An inactive entity can't be transacted upon, which means the inactive entity won't be listed in the Location or Entity menus on transactions such as AP purchase invoices, AR sales invoices, Order Entry AR sales invoices, Purchasing documents, and so on.

You'll still be able to view the transaction details on an inactive entity both in completed transactions and reports.

Dependent records

Before inactivating an entity, remove the entity from any inter-entity relationship. If the entity you plan to inactivate has a child location, inactivate the child location before you inactivate the entity. It's a best practice to inactivate locations from the bottom up, where the entity is the last thing you inactivate.

When you inactivate the entity, Intacct shows a warning message about any unconfirmed payments in Accounts Payable, dependent records including child locations, and so on.

User entity restrictions

If you're assigning entity restrictions for users, where some users are restricted only to the entity you plan to inactivate, a best practice is to re-evaluate the user restrictions you implemented, and change them as required.

If you inactivate the entity without removing the restriction enabling users to access only the inactive entity, then:

1. The entity disappears from the User entities tab on the user record.
2. Users who were previously restricted to the inactive entity now have full access to all entities and the top level of the multi-entity shared environment, if they have no other entity restrictions.

This could result in users having unintended unfettered access to all entities. Users restricted to more than one entity, where only one entity is inactivated, continue to be restricted to the remaining entities after inactivating the one entity.

It's a best practice to carefully review any user restrictions, and re-assign any restricted users to another entity before you inactivate the one entity to which they are restricted.

If you re-activate a previously inactivated entity, Intacct re-instates all entity restrictions. This means any users you had previously restricted to a previously inactivated entity are once again restricted to that entity when you re-activate it.

For example, suppose you inactivate the New York entity. Users who are restricted to the New York entity only, now have full access to all entities and the top level. If you have users who are restricted to the New York and Connecticut entities, these users continue to access the Connecticut entity only after you inactivate the New York entity, without accessing other entities or the top level. If you re-activate the New York entity, Intacct re-instates all entity restrictions, which means users who were previously restricted to the New York entity only continue to be restricted to the New York entity only.

Smart rules and smart events

It's a best practice to delete any smart rules and smart events related to the entity you want to inactivate before you inactivate it. If the smart rules and smart events are applicable to other entities, edit the smart rules and smart events so that they no longer include the entity you want to inactivate.

Customers and suppliers

Inactivating an entity won't affect any restrictions to customers and suppliers. It's a good practice, however, to inactivate any entity private customers and suppliers as part of the overall entity inactivation process.

1099 forms and entity-owned supplier records

Any entity you inactivate is still available in the Form 1099 filter for entities and entity groups. You'll also be able to access any suppliers owned at the entity level for 1099 purposes. These suppliers are shown in the supplier list when selecting the Show private option. However, you won't be able to perform any transactions with these suppliers at the top level, because they're entity-owned by an inactive entity.

You can’t run any transactions or adjustments to the related 1099 forms after inactivating an entity. You can, however, print the 1099 information related to an inactivated entity.

Payment for an inactive entity

At renewal time, Sage Intacct regards an inactive entity as a non-renewed entity subscription. Subscription fees are annual (even if you receive a monthly bill), such that you still pay for the whole year if you inactivate an entity anytime during the year.

What happens after you inactivate an entity

After you inactivate an entity, the entity will not appear in any drop-down menus, including the Top Level, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing, Order Entry menus, and in any other transaction or reporting item in Intacct. It is now impossible to accidentally post a transaction to the inactive entity.

You can still run a financial report on an inactive entity for auditing and historical purposes.

Run a financial report on an inactive entity

Access to financial reports can vary depending on your permissions. The ability to view, add, and edit financial reports is controlled by separate General Ledger permissions.

Working with financial reports involves multiple tasks: running reports, editing reports, drilling down into a report, and so on. Each of these can require a specific set of permissions, both for the General Ledger and for the Company.

Make sure that you have all of the necessary permissions when working with financial reports.

You can still report on an inactive entity for auditing or historical purposes. You can run all reports on an inactive entity, including reports created with the financial report writer, standard reports, and custom reports.

Reporting on an inactive entity involves the following main steps:

1. Filter your location group for inactive entities
2. Duplicate a report
3. Run a report on an inactive entity

Filter your location group for inactive entities

There are times when you want to include dimensions that are inactive in reports. Create a dimension group that filters for both types of dimension member.

1. Open or edit the dimension group for the dimension type, for example, departments, locations, or territories.
2. In the filters section, create two filters:
   • Status equals active
   • Status equals inactive
3. Make sure that the condition type is set to Any (OR).
   
4. Save your changes.

You can use this group when you want to have both active and inactive members appear in a report.

Duplicate a report

You can optionally duplicate an existing report, which you can then edit to run on the inactive entity.

1. Select Edit next to the report you want to use as the basis for your new report.
2. Select Duplicate to duplicate the report and give it a new name.

Edit a report to run on an inactive entity

To edit financial reports, you must be a business user with the proper permissions for the data contained in the report. You must have access to the report from the Permissions tab in the Financial Report Writer, as well as list, view, and edit permissions for the general ledger.

Employee users cannot edit financial reports.

1. Go to the Financial Reports list.
2. Select Edit next to the report you want to change. Use the Financial Report Writer to make your changes.
3. Tab to the appropriate option to make your changes. The following table shows what changes you can make on each tab. Not all options are used for all report types.
4. Save your changes and run the report to see the new values.

Financial Report Writer editable options

Tab	What's editable
Report Info	Report name Report type Report audience Active or inactive status Filter by dimension structure on rows
Rows	Account groups Detail level Basis for amounts Always display All or None
Columns	Column type Calculated value Reporting period Offset Column heading 1 Column heading 2 Column title Dimension structure Expand by Show as Number Reporting book Display in report output Hide column Spacial divider to separate columns
Computations	Computations
Filters	As of date Reporting book Dimension filters
Format	General (accounts, numbers, dimensions, zero numbers) Page setup and columns (Logo, page header and footer, titles, page settings, fonts) Rows and totals (Hide/Center heading, blank lines and page breaks, hide totals and separators)
Permissions	Report owner Add or remove users from Access list (permissions apply) Add or remove users for Exclusion list (permissions apply)

5. Select the Filters tab.
6. In the Define dimensions section on the Location line, make sure Hide inactives is selected.
7. Save your changes and run the report.

Switch to an entity

You can switch among entities from the top level without having to log in or out again.

You can switch to another entity as follows:

• From the Top level list: Select the Top level dropdown list, and choose the entity you want to switch to.
• From the Entities list: Find the row containing the entity that you want to access, and select Switch to Entity on that row.
• From left navigation menu: Select Company > Setup > Entities and then choose the entity you want to access.

The entity opens in a new browser window. The entity name is shown at the top of the page, immediately before the top level.

Inactivate an entity

Before you inactivate an entity, see Considerations before you inactivate an entity for more information about preparing your entity for inactivation.

1. At the top level, go to the Entities list.
2. Select More actions > Edit next to the entity to open the Entity information page.
3. In the Entity section, change the status from Active to Inactive.
4. Select Save.
5. Select Done.

1. At the top level, go to the Entities list.
2. Select Edit to open the Entity information page.
3. In the Entity section, change the status from Active to Inactive.
4. Select Save.

To view inactive entities on reports and lists, select the Include inactives checkbox at the top of the report or list page.

Delete an entity

For audit purposes, Intacct does not support the deletion of an entity that has any transactions or objects associated with it.

An entity can be deleted only if it has no records or transactions associated with it.

1. Go to Company > Setup > Configuration > Entities.

2. Select More actions > Delete next to the entity you want to remove.
3. Select Delete on the confirmation dialog.

1. Go to Company > Setup > Configuration > Entities.

2. On the Entities list, locate the entity and select Delete.