Many B2B clients are themselves multi-entity: a Mexican SA de CV that owns a Spanish SL that owns a US LLC. Each legal entity has its own tax ID, billing terms and contracts — but operationally, they're one customer.
Model the hierarchy
- Create each legal entity as its own Company record (one per tax ID).
- On each subsidiary, set "Parent company" to point to the parent record.
- The parent record's "Subsidiaries" tab now shows all children.
Why model it
The parent view aggregates: total revenue across all entities, total open invoices, total contracts, all contacts across the group. Useful for account reviews, expansion planning, and reporting to your own management.
Cross-entity invoicing
One subsidiary can sign a master agreement, but invoices may issue from different subsidiaries depending on geography. Each invoice picks the right billing entity based on the contract terms. The CRM lead is linked to the parent for pipeline reporting.
Permissions
RBAC respects the hierarchy: a rep assigned to the parent company sees subsidiaries automatically; a rep assigned to a single subsidiary doesn't see the parent.
Tips
- Build the hierarchy as you onboard the client, not retroactively. Retrofitting is tedious.
- For very complex groups (10+ entities), consider a one-time consolidation workshop with the client — they often appreciate the visibility, and you uncover billing inconsistencies.