---
title: "Account structure"
description: "Understand Adyen's account structure and how to set it up for your business."
url: "https://docs.adyen.com/account/account-structure"
source_url: "https://docs.adyen.com/account/account-structure.md"
canonical: "https://docs.adyen.com/account/account-structure"
last_modified: "2023-10-19T11:14:00+02:00"
language: "en"
---

# Account structure

Understand Adyen's account structure and how to set it up for your business.

[View source](/account/account-structure.md)

With Adyen, you have a single [company account](#company-account), and one or more sub-accounts called [merchant accounts](#merchant-accounts). If you have several merchant accounts, you can additionally group them together in [account groups](#account-groups).

If processing point-of-sale payments, you can additionally have one or more **stores** under each merchant account, to represent your physical store locations. For more information, refer to [Account structure for in-person payments](/point-of-sale/design-your-integration/determine-account-structure).

## Company account

Your company account represents your core business entity with us. The company account holds all your merchant accounts and [users](/account/users), and is where your [monthly invoice](/reporting/invoice-reconciliation/payment-processing-invoice) is issued to by default.

## Merchant accounts

Your payments are processed in sub-accounts called merchant accounts. The merchant account is where you receive the payout of funds, as well as the reports used for [reconciliation](/reporting/settlement-reconciliation). It is also where you configure payment methods, processing currencies, and override risk management rules set at company level.

The number of merchant accounts you should have depends on your business. For many of our customers, it is enough to have a single merchant account. However, having multiple merchant accounts might be useful or even required in some cases. For guidance on choosing an account structure that works best for your business, refer to [Define your account structure](/account/define-account-structure).

For example, an online business selling tea to shoppers in Europe and in the US can have two merchant accounts for processing payments in Europe and in the US, respectively:

![](/user/pages/docs/12.account/01.account-structure/account-structure.svg?decoding=auto\&fetchpriority=auto)

## Account groups

Account groups provide an additional layer to manage your company account in case you have several merchant accounts. By grouping several merchant accounts into an account group, you can give users access to all merchant accounts in that group. For example, depending on their [user roles](/account/user-roles), users can:

* Search for payments across all merchant accounts in the account group.
* View and download reports across all merchant accounts in the account group.

You can create as many account groups as you like, however one merchant account can only belong to one account group. To learn how to create account groups, refer to [Create an account group](/account/manage-account-structure#create-account-group).

For example, you could create an account group for all merchant accounts in a certain country or region. If you have several brands under your company account, you could create a separate account group for each brand.

The example below shows a business with merchant accounts in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and in the US. The merchant accounts in the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden belong to the Account group EU.

![](/user/pages/docs/12.account/01.account-structure/account-groups.svg?decoding=auto\&fetchpriority=auto)

## Next steps

###### [Define your account structure](/account/define-account-structure)

[Determine which account structure works best for your business.](/account/define-account-structure)

###### [Manage your account structure](/account/manage-account-structure)

[Request new merchant accounts and create account groups.](/account/manage-account-structure)
