We have two businesses. Do we need two have two separate QuickBooks accounts or can there be separation between the two on our account?

Hey there, @mthompson-revive. 

It's great to see a new face here. Welcome to the Community. I appreciate you coming to us with your QuickBooks Online (QBO) question. 

If you have two separate businesses, it's best to have two accounts to ensure that your books are correct. Once you get the first business set up, you can easily use the same log in as the first to set up the next account. Here's how: 

1. Visit the QuickBooks pricing page and choose the subscription you want. 
2. Keep going until you get to the payment screen. 
3. Scroll down and hit Sign in next to "Adding a company to an existing account?". 
4. Sign in and finish the rest of the on-screen instructions. 

Note: Don't forget to ensure the company names are different so you can switch between them when you're ready. 

If there's anything else I can help you with QuickBooks, please let me know. I'd be more than willing to lend you a hand. Have a splendid day! 

@mthompson-revive 

One QBO account is for one company file. You may manage branches/divisions by utilizing the Class/Location feature available in QBO Plus and Advanced. Otherwise you should open a new account.

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If our two business have different partners and we want to give access to a partner to one quickbooks a/c but not the other, how can we keep access separate. I opened a new gmail account for the separate business but the new gmail account shows up when I sign into the first gmail account. So if I give a partner the gmail account login, it seems they might have access to my other gmail account.

Hello there, @KPWM1.

When giving access to a QuickBooks account, another user from a different company can't see it if you have a different email associated with it. 

Also, if the other partner didn't know the password, they can't even log in with the account.

I've added this article about different options for user roles and access permissions in QuickBooks: User roles and access rights in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you have other questions about QuickBooks. I'm always here to help.

I already have 2 businesses in Quickbooks but need to separate them. How can I do that?

Thank for joining this thread, Kris20261.

I'm happy to provide some info about having separate QuickBooks Online accounts for two businesses.

QuickBooks views each legal business as its own separate entity, which means they do require their own individual paid subscriptions. The good news is that you don’t need a bunch of different logins to manage them; you can keep everything under one username and simply hop back and forth between the two companies whenever you need. Here's how to get this done:

1. Create a New Company Subscription 

You'll need to purchase a second subscription for the second business. 

1. Go to the QuickBooks pricing page and select a plan for the new company.
2. When prompted to "Add a company to an existing account?", select Sign in.
3. Use your existing user ID and password to link the new company to your current login. 

2. Move Your Data

Once the new account is set up, you need to transfer the relevant information from the original account: 

1. Export/Import Lists: In your original company, go to the Gear icon > Export Data to save your Customers, Vendors, and Chart of Accounts to Excel. Then, log into the new company and use Gear icon > Import Data to upload them.
2. Transactions: Individual transactions (invoices, expenses) generally cannot be moved automatically via basic QBO. You may need to enter them manually starting from a specific "cutoff date" or use a third-party migration tool from the QuickBooks App Store.
3. Advanced Option: If both accounts are QuickBooks Online Advanced, you can use the built-in Backup and Restore feature to copy data directly from one to the other. 

3. Switch Between Businesses

After setup, you can easily toggle between your companies: 

1. Select the Gear icon (Settings) ⚙.
2. Select Switch company.
3. Choose the business you want to work on from the list. 

I'm linking a couple of articles below that I believe you'll find helpful:

• Create or add another company file
• Export your QuickBooks Online data

With this information you'll be able to successfully manage two businesses with QuickBooks Online. Assistance is only a comment or post away here in the Community if you have any other questions. Take care!

@Kris20261 

If you manage your business by class to separate them, you can purchase a third-party service to migrate your data to 2 new QBO accounts.