ERP for group enterprise (multi-entity). Every entity in its own words, consolidated in one view.
Every entity in its own books and words, with intercompany matched and eliminated, so the group closes once and the owner reads one set of numbers. The UAE and Saudi Arabia edition arrives from December 2026.
From December 2026How does Kinnow help a group of companies? Each company is a separate entity with its own books, chart of accounts, budgets and ready-made setup for its sector. Sales between your companies are posted as matching pairs and checked at close, eliminations post into a group consolidation entity, and the owner asks one set of questions across the group. The group view is set up with you; it does not come as a ready-made industry setup. Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
Your business in one paragraph
An owner-led group usually grows by adding companies: a trading company, a manufacturer, a property arm, a services firm. Each has its own books, VAT registration and software, and money moves between them on invoices, loans and shared costs. The month-end problem is that balances between your own companies never tie, so consolidation is a week of eliminations in a spreadsheet, and the owner sees group cash only afterwards. Auditors and shared-services teams need access across companies without seeing everything. The owner is awake over the balance that sits on one side only, the company running on its own software, and the cash nobody can see across the group.
See two of your companies side by side on Kinnow. Send us a trial balance for each.
How your month runs on Kinnow
Ten steps from structure to signed-off month. A person is in the loop before anything is posted, eliminated or filed.
- The structure is set up. Your group is the top level of your account. Under it sit your companies (entities), then business lines and branches; every document carries its entity. The controller sets this up in Admin with us.
- Each entity gets its own industry setup. A distributor, a manufacturer and a property arm each run the ready-made setup for their sector. Limits and routines are created for each entity, so one entity's limits never overwrite another's.
- Each entity runs its day. Sales, purchases, stock, payroll and compliance post to the entity's own books in Account.
- Intercompany is posted as a pair. An accountant records the transaction between entity A and entity B. A journal lands in each set of books, linked by one registry record, and each line carries the other entity.
- Large group journals are approved. The extra group rule requires a journal above its limit to be approved by the finance controller before it posts.
- The close checks intercompany. Each entity runs the twelve month-end checks. The intercompany balance must pass: an unmatched half or a net imbalance blocks the close.
- Eliminations are run. The Intercompany Eliminator posts elimination journals for matched pairs into the group consolidation entity, and marks the pairs eliminated. A pair can be cancelled with a written reason, once the consolidation period is reopened.
- Cash is read across the group. The Cash-flow Forecaster builds a rolling 30, 60 and 90-day view across entities. The owner can ask Ask Kinnow about one entity or all of them.
- The owner gets a Monday digest. The Executive Digest sends the week in numbers, alerts, trends and unusual movements by email and WhatsApp.
- The month is signed. The controller signs each entity. Only the controller can reopen a closed month, with a reason.
What is configured for a group
These are starting points that we agree with you. What an entity approves is its own business, and a change to who approves what is itself approved by an administrator.
| Part | How a group is set up |
|---|---|
| Structure | Group, entity, business line and branch, with an entity required on every document that posts to the books. Each entity has its own chart of accounts, and budgets are per entity. In the UAE a free-zone code on the entity marks free-zone treatment. |
| Industry setups | One for each entity: the ready-made setup for its own sector, with its limits, who signs off, reports and starter questions for Ask Kinnow. The extra group rules are available for entities in engineering and construction, distribution, manufacturing, real estate, professional services, IT services, capital goods and hospitality. |
| Extra group rules | One rule: a journal above a limit needs the finance controller. The limit is set with you in your currency. Reports: trial balance and account ledger. These rules change reporting and approvals; they never add a routine. |
| Intercompany | Matching journals in both companies, a list of all such transactions, a close check that must pass, and elimination into a group consolidation entity. |
| Access | Roles limited to an entity, business line or branch, and an all-entities view for group roles. |
| Your words | Group, entity, business line, branch and all in place of organisation, company, division, location and view across entities. |
Processes
Each company switches on the processes of its own sector, and the month-end close, access request to grant, workflow change to live and document to signed processes apply to every entity. Each says who owns a step and what Kinnow makes sure happens.
Agents for a group
Each agent is checked with each client before it works on your books, and everything it produces waits for a person.
Intercompany Eliminator
Posts elimination journals for matched intercompany pairs into the group consolidation entity.
Cash-flow Forecaster
Builds a rolling cash forecast for the next 30, 60 and 90 days from post-dated cheques, bills due and how customers have paid in the past, with a range around each figure to show how sure it is.
KnowAnomaly Detector
Checks nine business figures for unusual movements whenever an administrator or your scheduler starts a scan, and lists them in the Anomaly Feed, most serious first.
AccountClose Checklist
Runs the twelve period-close checks, helps clear the ones holding up the close and drafts the commentary on variances. A person confirms the close.
VaultAsk Kinnow
Answers questions from your documents and from the records of the applications you use, and only shows what the person asking is allowed to see.
Executive Digest
Sends the week in numbers, alerts, trends and unusual movements each Monday.
Ask us to run an intercompany match on two of your entities.
Tax and compliance calendar
Kinnow prepares; your people confirm and file. We do not print dates here because the tax authority sets them.
| Obligation | What Kinnow prepares | What stays with you |
|---|---|---|
| UAE VAT return per entity (VAT-201, quarterly) | The groundwork to build the return from the entity's invoices and bills, split by emirate of supply, as a file for upload to the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) portal, completed before launch. The registration comes from each entity's company profile. | A person uploads each return. Kinnow does not file. |
| Saudi VAT return per entity | The groundwork to prepare the return from the entity's books for review; we check which figure goes in which box with each client first, completed before launch. | A person files each return. |
| UAE corporate tax, per entity | Kinnow works out the tax from the taxable income you supply after your adjustments, including the small business relief election and the qualifying free-zone person route. | A person prepares and files the return. |
| Staff wages, per entity | UAE: a WPS salary file (the wage-protection file your bank takes) and a running provision for end-of-service gratuity. Saudi payroll is not in the first release. | A person approves each run. |
| Intercompany balance | A check that must pass at close; elimination journals into the consolidation entity. | The controller reviews. |
| Month-end close, per entity | Twelve month-end checks; seven must pass. | The controller signs. |
What the owner sees
Every answer shows its source and cost before it runs, and Ask Kinnow answers only within the asker's scope. Veil, our privacy layer, holds back bank, tax and ID numbers and swaps names for placeholders before an AI call. It covers Ask Kinnow and most agents today; the rest are being added.
| Question an owner would type | What comes back |
|---|---|
| What is our cash position across the group? | Cash by entity and in total, with the 30, 60 and 90-day outlook. |
| Which entity's customers are paying latest? | Overdue payments, entity by entity. |
| Do the intercompany balances tie? | Pairs matched, half-pairs and net imbalance by entity. |
| Which entity closed late this month? | Close status by entity. |
| What is the trial balance for the group? | The consolidated trial balance with eliminations. |
Numbers that matter
- Unmatched intercompany amount and age.
- Cash by entity and the rolling forecast.
- Close status by entity.
- Budget against actual per entity.
- Anomalies raised across entities.
Controls an owner cares about
- An entity is required. A document with no entity is refused, with a message asking you to choose one.
- A pair posts together. Both journals post in one go and each names the other entity.
- Eliminated pairs are protected. Cancelling needs a written reason, and the consolidation period must be reopened first.
- Access is limited by scope. A role sees only its own entity, business line or branch.
- Only the controller reopens a closed month.
Applications switched on
Your words, on day one
| Generic term | In your Kinnow |
|---|---|
| organisation | group |
| company | entity |
| division | business line |
| location | branch |
| cross-entity view | all |
Questions
Is there a ready-made setup for group enterprises?
No. The group view is a set of extra rules on top of each sector's setup, not a setup of its own. Each entity runs the ready-made setup for its own sector, and the extra rules add control over consolidation: an approval limit on journals that touch the group. We set up everything else about your group with you in the first weeks.
Can a distributor and a manufacturer sit in one group?
Yes. Each entity runs the setup for its own sector, with its own limits and its own vocabulary, and the extra group rules sit above them. Group reports use the same underlying accounts, so a total reads the same whichever entity's words you use.
How do intercompany balances and eliminations work?
A sale between your companies is posted as a matching pair: a journal in the seller's books and one in the buyer's, linked to one record. At period close an unmatched half or a net imbalance fails a check that must pass. The Intercompany Eliminator then posts elimination journals into a group consolidation entity, so consolidated profit and loss excludes double-counted intercompany revenue and expense.
Does Kinnow consolidate across currencies?
Not yet. Consolidation and elimination across currencies is not built, and parallel ledgers under more than one accounting standard are not built either. Consolidation works for entities that report in one currency, so a dirham entity and a riyal entity cannot be consolidated together yet.
Can the auditor or a shared-services team see several entities?
Yes. Access is by role, limited to a scope: one entity, a business line or branch within it, or all the entities the person is entitled to. A person with no access to an entity sees nothing from it, and only the controller can reopen a closed month.
Does each entity file its own VAT return?
Each entity has its own company profile and registration, and the groundwork to prepare returns from that entity's invoices, a VAT-201 file for a UAE entity and a return for review for a Saudi entity, is completed before launch. A person uploads or files each one. Kinnow does not file, and it does not prepare a VAT group return across entities.
How do we go live?
One entity at a time, alongside your current software until that entity's month-end numbers tie. About two weeks to first results for the first entity.
Show me Kinnow for group enterprise (multi-entity).
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