If you keep books for several clients, the question is not only how to create a company but whose workspace it should sit in. In Smart Books, the Create Company page now lets you choose a shared workspace, so the company is owned by the workspace owner while you pick your own access to it. This guide walks through how that works for accountants and for the business owners who share their workspace.
Own workspace versus a shared workspace
Every person has one workspace of their own. When you create a company there, you own it, exactly as before. Other people can share their workspace with you. If you are a member of such a workspace, Smart Books can offer it as a second place to create a company.
The Create Company screen explains the difference in a short note under the heading "Where does this company live?": in your own workspace you own the company; in a workspace shared with you, its owner owns the company and their plan applies, and you choose your own access below.
- Your own workspace: you are the owner, and your plan decides how many companies you can have.
- A shared workspace: the workspace owner is the owner of the company, and their plan applies. You are a creator with the access you choose.
When you see the workspace picker
The picker appears only when there is a real choice, that is, when you have more than your own workspace to pick from. If you belong to no shared workspace, the page looks and behaves as it always did and the company is created in your own workspace. Your own workspace is listed first and selected by default.
A shared workspace is offered for creating a company only if its owner allows it. If the owner has not allowed you to create companies there, the page tells you to choose another workspace.
Choosing your access in a shared workspace
When you select a shared workspace, an "Your access" section appears. The roles you can pick are the ones the workspace owner has allowed for people who create companies there. This matters for accountants: you decide what you will be able to do inside the company you just set up, within the limits the owner has set.
In a shared workspace a Smart Books role is required. The reason is practical: after creation you are taken into the company in Smart Books, and without a role you would not be able to open what you just made. If you skip it, the page asks you to choose your access in Smart Books before it lets you continue. If the owner has not offered any Smart Books role for creators, the page says so and asks you to choose another workspace.
What happens after you create the company
Before the company is created, Smart Books checks for a duplicate so that you do not end up with the same company twice. Each create request also carries a unique request id, so a repeated click or a slow connection should not produce a second company.
On success in a shared workspace you see a message that the company is owned by the workspace owner. In rare cases the company is created but your Smart Books seat is not ready yet. The page then tells you the company was created for the owner, that your access is not set up yet, and that you can open it from the company list in a minute or ask the owner to share it with you.
Refusals you may see, in plain words
The workspace owner can change what you are allowed to do at any time, so a create can be refused. Smart Books explains the common cases and refreshes the list of workspaces so that you see the current choices:
What you seeWhat it means The owner does not allow you to create companies in this workspaceCreating is switched off for you. Choose another workspace or ask the owner. You have created as many companies as the owner allowsThe owner has set a limit per creator. Ask them, or use another workspace. The owner no longer allows that rolePick another role from the list that is now shown. You are no longer a member of that workspaceYour membership was removed. Choose another workspace. The plan of the owner allows a set number of companiesTheir plan limit is reached. Ask the owner to upgrade in Manage.The last row is worth a note for owners: because the company counts against the owner's plan, the right person to raise the limit is the workspace owner, not the accountant creating the company.
A practical setup for accountants and clients
- Owner: share your workspace with your accountant and decide whether they may create companies and which roles they may take.
- Accountant: open Create Company, choose the client's workspace, fill in the company details and pick your Smart Books role.
- Owner: review who has access to the company and adjust it. Day-to-day permissions inside Smart Books are still governed by its own access profiles.
- Both: agree on a naming convention so that the duplicate check, and your own team, can tell similar companies apart.
Seeing a company in the workspace directory does not by itself open it. Access is checked every time a company is opened, so the owner stays in control of who can look at the books.
Set the books up properly from day one
Creating the company is the first step; clean books are the goal. Once the company exists, start with the basics in our guide to bookkeeping and accounting basics for growing businesses, and set a routine for bank reconciliation in Smart Books. If the client is GST-registered, keep the input tax credit routine in view from the first month.
Key takeaways
- The workspace picker on Create Company appears only when you can choose between your own and a shared workspace.
- In a shared workspace the owner owns the company and their plan applies.
- You choose your own access from the roles the owner allows, and a Smart Books role is required.
- A duplicate check runs before creation, and refusals are explained in plain language.
- Plan limits belong to the workspace owner, so they are the one to raise them.
If you manage books for more than one business, try this flow in Smart Books, and confirm tax or filing specifics for each client with your chartered accountant.