Create Your First Company

New company drawer showing account fields and accounting edit permissions

Required account fields selector showing Code and Name choices

New Company drawer showing item identification and Sales / Invoicing settings

Create a company from the Companies tab and set the core accounting options that SPRK uses for day-to-day work.

When To Use This

Use this workflow when you want to start a new company in SPRK without importing it from another accounting system.

Before You Start

  • You can open Settings → Companies.
  • You have permission to create a company in your current workspace.
  • You know the company display name you want to use.
  • You know whether you want SPRK to start with default accounts or a blank chart.

Steps

  1. Open Settings → Companies.
  2. Select New Company.
  3. In the New Company drawer, complete the core fields:
  • Company Display name is required.
  • Legal name is optional if it is different from the display name.
  • Currency sets the default reporting currency.
  • Country (ISO) is the two-letter country code shown in the form, such as US.
  1. Leave Accounts setup turned on if you want SPRK to seed default accounts. Turn it off only if you want to start with a blank chart.
  2. Review optional accounting settings if they matter for your rollout:
  • Posting Cutoff Date
  • Fiscal Year End
  • Required account fields
  • Dimensions
  • Default Accounts Receivable
  • Default Accounts Payable
  • Item identification, if the form exposes item-label presentation
  1. Review Accounting edit permissions before creating the company.
  • Workspace or tenant defaults can prefill accounting edit policies when those defaults exist.
  • Explicit choices you make in the company drawer override those defaults for the new company.
  • If the form exposes Control accounts, use it for accounts that should be posted through their source workflow instead of new manual journals.
  • Tenant defaults are managed from Settings -> Defaults; saving a different value in the new-company drawer controls the new company.
  1. Use Required account fields to decide whether account codes are required in visible account setup.
  • Choosing Name only can make account-code columns and code-first labels disappear from the Chart of Accounts, bank-account choosers, reconcile account selectors, and account dropdowns that otherwise show code · name.
  • When Name only is active, account pickers sort and label by account name instead of code-first display strings.
  1. For date fields such as Posting Cutoff Date and Fiscal Year End, you can use the visible calendar control or type a date directly. Typed dates should follow your saved Preferences date order; SPRK normalizes accepted entries to the selected display format.
  2. If Item identification is available, choose how supported item labels should appear:
  • Item number + description shows item numbers beside descriptions where supported.
  • Description only hides item numbers in supported item and invoice workflows without deleting the saved item numbers.
  1. Select Create.
  2. Confirm that the new company appears in the companies list and becomes the active company after creation.
  3. After the company exists, review Sales / Invoicing settings if the company will send invoices:
  • Default invoice payment terms can seed new invoice terms and due dates.
  • New invoice workflow can start new invoices as Draft or Open.
  • Company contact fields and Payment Instructions can appear on printed customer invoices.

What Happens Next

The new company is added to the Companies table and becomes available as the active company across the app.

If Something Looks Wrong

What You See What To Check What To Do Next
A required value or review step is missing Leaving Company Display name blank The create action is not meant to succeed without it
You are about to take an action that may affect the result Turning off Accounts setup without planning how the chart of accounts will be created afterward Confirm the visible company, page, and workflow state before continuing
The result does not match what you expected Setting the wrong Country (ISO) format Use the short country code shown by the product, not the full country name
The entered value or selection does not produce the expected result Typing setup dates in an order that does not match your saved date-format preference Correct the value or selection before continuing
The result does not match the intended workflow Ignoring default receivable or payable account settings when your team needs invoices or bills immediately after setup Review the visible state before continuing
Two similar workflows or fields are easy to mix up Treating missing account codes in lists as missing data when the company is configured for name-only account presentation Use the specific workflow or control named on this page
Two similar workflows or fields are easy to mix up Treating hidden item numbers as missing item data when the company is configured for Description only item identification Use the specific workflow or control named on this page
A needed review step is missing Forgetting to review Sales / Invoicing before the first invoice if your firm wants standard terms or draft/open defaults Go back to that check before continuing
The entered value or selection does not produce the expected result Selecting control accounts without telling journal-entry users why those accounts disappear from new manual journal account choices Correct the value or selection before continuing