Purpose

This article is to help to determine if a profit center or business unit should be setup as a branch or a division in Aspire.

Common examples:

Branch Example: Jim owns two companies, Jim's Landscaping and Great Plumbing. Both will be using Aspire. The companies are separate entities, with separate EIN's and accounting systems and individual logos. These companies must be setup as separate branches in Aspire.

Division Example: Sherry owns one business entity, Sherry's Pro Services, that provides landscaping services and plumbing services. One EIN, one accounting system. In Aspire, she will set up divisions for plumbing and landscaping.

Question 1: Is it a separate business entity? Does it have distinct EIN#s, accounting systems, logos?

If YES – They will have to be set up as separate branches.

If NO – They may be divisions.

Question 2: Do they have distinct physical locations?

If YES – They can be separate branches

If NO – They probably are divisions

Question 3: Do the entities or business units provide services on the same customer properties?

If YES – They are probably divisions. If the business units must be setup as branches and there is an overlap of customers, additional decisions are required:

Ask, “How many properties are overlapping between them?”
Remember that a property can only be assigned to a single branch.
Costs and revenue will be reported to the property branch by default (unless a branch override was performed at the opportunity or service level). If this occurs regularly and your company must have separate branches, base don the other questions listed, you will have two options for correct reporting:
- Assign the property to the branch that does the majority work. Perform branch overrides any time work is estimated by alternate branches.
- Create separate property records for each branch.
  - Restrict branch access for sales reps so they only access the property record associated with their branch.
  - Invoices will be separate for each branch.
  - Customer portal will show separate properties.

If NO – Then they may be branches.

Question 4: Do they share employees?

YES – They are probably divisions. If the business units must be setup as branches and there is overlap with employees, there are additional considerations:

Ask, “are your employees always paid by their branch of origin, or do they receive multiple W2s?”
Labor costs are linked to the work ticket.
- The employee will be paid by the branch associated with the work ticket.

⚠️ This can cause complications with payroll and reporting if not managed carefully.

If the client has branch-specific accounting and payroll and the employees are only paid by their branch of origin, client will need to follow the process outlined in the help doc “How To: Subbing Labor to Another Branch Inside Aspire.”
Another option is for the client to move labor costs between branches using a journal entry.

NO – They may be branches.

Final Branch or Division Assessment

Distinct Accounting/EIN	YES	NO
Separate Locations	YES	NO
Shared Properties	NO	YES
Shared Employees	NO	YES
	Structure As Branches	Structure As Divisions