Divisions
A Division is a catalog that lets you segment your company along a dimension other than Locations, Departments or Item Classes (for example, business lines, brands or business units), to classify your accounting transactions, inventory, budgets, fixed assets and payroll by that dimension. On the Enterprise plan you can also organize them in a hierarchy up to three levels deep and browse them in an org chart.
What is it and what is it for?
Each Division has a name and, if your company has the Hierarchical View (Enterprise plan), optionally a Parent Division, letting you build a hierarchy up to three levels deep (for example: "Retail" → "Physical Stores" → "North Zone"). Once created, the Division is available as a dimension to tag:
- The header and account lines of your accounting transactions (invoices, payments, journal entries, etc.).
- The items in your Inventory catalog.
- Your general Budgets.
- Your Fixed Assets.
- Payroll transactions and employees.
This lets you later filter and compare your financial reports (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement, Trial Balance, Cash Flow Statement, etc.) by Division, in addition to Location, Department or Item Class.
How to use it
- Turn on the feature, if it isn't already. Unlike Departments or Locations, the Divisions catalog only shows up in the menu if, in addition to your plan, you have the Divisions as Profit Center feature checked in Settings → Features (Accounting tab, Profit Centers section).
- Create the division from the list with the New button, entering its Name and, if needed, its Notes.
- Assign it a Parent Division if you want it to be part of a hierarchy (this field only shows up if your company has the Hierarchical View enabled). Remember the hierarchy allows a maximum of three levels.
- Restrict it to specific Subsidiaries on the Subsidiaries tab (if your plan uses them and you have the "Subsidiaries in Cost Centers" feature active): check Only show on selected subsidiaries and pick which ones it should appear on; if you leave it unchecked, the division shows up in every subsidiary.
- Save the record with Save. From then on, the Division is available to pick in every transaction and catalog that uses it.
- Review the org chart with Hierarchical View from the list (Enterprise plan only), to see at a glance how all your divisions and sub-divisions are organized. The chart is interactive: you can search, expand or collapse branches, zoom in and out, switch between vertical and horizontal, and print it.
Key capabilities
- Hierarchy up to three levels deep between division and sub-divisions (Enterprise plan), with an automatic compound name (e.g. "Parent : Child").
- Usable as a dimension on accounting transactions (header and account lines), inventory items, budgets, fixed assets and payroll.
- Limit visibility to specific Subsidiaries, when your company uses Subsidiaries.
- A read-only Detail view in addition to the editable form, so you can review a division without risking a change.
- Fast autocomplete search on every division selection field, cached for speed.
Key fields
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the division throughout the system. Required, and can't be repeated together with the same Parent Division. |
| Parent Division | Places the division within the hierarchy. Only shown if your company has the Hierarchical View enabled (Enterprise plan); optional, and capped at three total levels. |
| Notes | Free-text remarks about the division. |
| Inactive | Hides the division from selection lists without erasing its already-recorded history. |
| Only show on selected subsidiaries | When checked, the division is only available in the Subsidiaries listed on the Subsidiaries tab. Only applies if your plan uses Subsidiaries. |
| Subsidiaries tab | The list of Subsidiaries this division will be available on, when its visibility is restricted. |
Validations on save
- Name is required.
- Name can't be repeated under the same Parent Division (you can have, for example, a "North Zone" under two different parents, but not twice under the same one).
- A division can't be its own sub-division.
- The chosen Parent Division must exist and can't form a loop (a division can't be both a child and a parent of the same division).
- The hierarchy allows a maximum of three levels. If the chosen parent division already has another parent division forming three levels, saving is rejected.
- Linked Subsidiaries can't be voided.
Availability
- Browsing, creating, editing and deleting Divisions requires the "Chart of Accounts" permission on your user group (Divisions doesn't have its own permission; it shares the Chart of Accounts one), with separate levels for each action.
- Unlike Departments, Locations or Item Classes, on Divisions the "Divisions as Profit Center" feature (Settings → Features, Accounting tab) controls whether the whole catalog shows up in the menu at all, not just its use as a profit center on reports. Even if your plan includes Divisions, the screen stays hidden until you turn this feature on.
- The Hierarchical View (the org-chart diagram of divisions and sub-divisions), and the Parent Division field, are only available on the Enterprise plan. On the other plans that do include Divisions, they're managed as a flat catalog, with no hierarchy.
- The Subsidiaries tab only shows up if your plan has Subsidiaries enabled and your company has the "Subsidiaries in Cost Centers" feature active.
Tips and common mistakes
Don't see Divisions in the menu even though your plan is Premium or higher? Check that the "Divisions as Profit Center" feature is turned on under Settings → Features (Accounting tab). Without it, the screen stays hidden even if your edition includes it.
"Can't delete because it has related records": means the division is already in use on accounting transactions, inventory items, budgets, other divisions (as a parent), fixed assets or payroll transactions. The message details where it's in use; instead of deleting it, mark it Inactive so it stops being offered on new selections without losing its history.
"You can't specify more than three (3) hierarchy levels": happens when trying to nest a fourth level. Check the existing hierarchy and pick a parent division that's at most on the second level.