---
title: "Account structure and resources"
description: "Understand account structures to design a marketplace that suits your business needs."
url: "https://docs.adyen.com/marketplaces/account-structure-resources"
source_url: "https://docs.adyen.com/marketplaces/account-structure-resources.md"
canonical: "https://docs.adyen.com/marketplaces/account-structure-resources"
last_modified: "2021-11-03T13:15:00+01:00"
language: "en"
---

# Account structure and resources

Understand account structures to design a marketplace that suits your business needs.

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

To design a platform that suits your use cases, you first need to understand the different accounts and resources that make up your platform, and how they are connected.

## Your Adyen account

When you sign up for an Adyen account, you receive a **company account** and one or more **merchant accounts**.

In your merchant accounts, you can configure:

* Payment methods
* Processing currencies
* Account-specific risk management rules
* Reports

The number of merchant accounts you need depends on your type of business. In most cases, it is enough to have a single merchant account. However, having multiple merchant accounts can sometimes be useful. For example, if your users operate in multiple regions, you can manage regionally available payment methods by using a different merchant account for each region.

### Account resources

The following resources represent your business in Adyen's payment processing platform:

* **Company account**: represents your core business entity and connects your merchant accounts.
* **Merchant account**: the account where we process payments for your users. You can have multiple merchant accounts.

You can use the [Management API](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/Management/latest/overview) or your [Customer Area](https://ca-test.adyen.com/) to manage these resources.

For more information about your payment processing account, refer to [Adyen account structure](/account/account-structure).

## Your balance platform

In an Adyen for Platforms integration, your merchant accounts are connected to your **balance platform**. The balance platform is an accounting system that manages the flow of funds within your business. You must have a separate balance platform for each region in which you acquire payments.

When we process a sale for your user, the balance platform enables you to split the incoming funds between your marketplace and your user. Users are third parties in your marketplace: sellers, service providers, or contractors, for example.

In your balance platform, you can:

* Onboard users of your marketplace and initiate their [verification process](/marketplaces/verification-overview).
* Hold your users' funds and [pay out to them](/marketplaces/managed-payouts).
* [Move funds](/marketplaces/internal-fund-transfers) within the accounts of your marketplace.
* [Reconcile transactions](/marketplaces/reconciliation-use-cases) based on webhooks and reports.
* [Offer additional financial products](/financial-products) to your users.

If you are a global marketplace with multiregional sellers who can transfer funds to each other:

* You must have a single balance platform for all your acquiring regions.
* You cannot offer additional financial products to your users.

### Balance platform resources

Depending on your business model and use case, you need to create the following resources for each of your users:

* **Account holder**: contains the capabilities of your user. These capabilities define what your user can do in your marketplace. For example, receive fund transfers to their balance account, or payouts to their transfer instrument (verified bank account). An account holder must be linked to your user's balance account and [main legal entity](/marketplaces/account-structure-resources/legal-entity-management).
* **Balance account**: holds the funds of your user. All financial activities in your marketplace, such as paying out to a bank account, happen through balance accounts.

Similarly, your business has its own account holder and balance account on the balance platform:

* **Balance platform**: the accounting system on which you manage your users and funds.
* **Liable account holder**: represents your business in the balance platform.
* **Liable balance account**: the account where your business' funds are held. Funds can be deducted from this account if your users' balance accounts incur negative balances due to refunds and chargebacks.

These resources are created by Adyen. You can use the [Configuration API](https://docs.adyen.com/api-explorer/balanceplatform/latest/overview) or your [Customer Area](https://ca-test.adyen.com/) to manage these resources.

## See also

* [Adyen account structure](/account/account-structure)
* [Verification process](/marketplaces/verification-overview)
* [Pay out to users](/marketplaces/managed-payouts)
* [Move funds within your platform](/marketplaces/internal-fund-transfers)
* [Reconcile transactions](/marketplaces/reconciliation-use-cases)
