Franchise reporting without sending every franchisee a spreadsheet
Works with Xero and QuickBooks
Franchise reporting goes wrong in a predictable way. The franchisor has the numbers, the franchisees want them, and the only safe way to send them is one filtered file per store — so reporting becomes a monthly production line, and by the time a store owner reads their result they can no longer do anything about it.
How you fix it depends on a structural question worth answering first: does your network keep every store in one accounting file, or does each franchisee own their own?
Two franchise structures, two different jobs
One ledger, a tracking option per store
Common where the franchisor does the bookkeeping. Every store is a tracking category option in one Xero organisation, or a class or location in one QuickBooks company. The reporting problem is scoping: the data is already together and the trouble is letting one store owner see only their slice.
A ledger per franchisee
Common where franchisees are genuinely independent businesses. Each has their own Xero or QuickBooks company, and often their own accountant. The reporting problem is the opposite: getting a consistent view across files you do not all control.
The workaround both structures land on
A spreadsheet. Export, filter, re-key, send. It is slow, it ages instantly, and the one thing it is genuinely bad at is confidentiality — a spreadsheet can be forwarded, and a misfiltered one shows a franchisee the whole network.
Giving franchisees a ledger login is not the answer either
Neither Xero nor QuickBooks Online can restrict a user to one tracking category, class or location, so a login that lets a franchisee see their own store also lets them see everybody's.
How Vizii handles each structure
- 1
One ledger: scope each franchisee to their own option
Connect the company once, then invite each franchisee as a viewer scoped to their store's tracking category, class or location. They see live totals, charts and transaction lists for their store only; everything outside it, including other stores' totals and the balance sheet, stays hidden.
- 2
One ledger, Xero: give them a real P&L too
Build the Profit & Loss layout once and each franchisee opens their own — the selected month and the year to date, with % of sales on every line. Leave royalties and head-office recharges out of the layout if you want the conversation to stay on what they control. The Profit & Loss by department report is built from Xero tracking categories, so it is Xero only today. QuickBooks support is planned.
- 3
A ledger per franchisee: connect each one
Each franchisee's Xero or QuickBooks company is its own connection, switchable from one login. You get a consistent set of dashboards across the network without asking anybody to change how they do their books.
- 4
Either way, nobody gets a ledger login
Viewers sign in with a one-time link sent to the address you invited, so a dashboard is never open to whoever holds the URL. They never get a Xero or QuickBooks login, and they do not use up a seat in either.
One thing Vizii deliberately does not do: it does not consolidate. Figures are never combined across companies, so if you need a single group Profit & Loss that sums every franchisee's own ledger, with intercompany eliminations, that is a consolidation tool's job rather than this one's. Vizii gives each company its own live reporting and gives each franchisee a scoped view of theirs.
If the network shares one ledger, none of that applies — the figures are already in one company, and a network-wide P&L is simply the report with no filter on it.
Questions
No. In a single-ledger network every total, chart and list a franchisee opens is calculated only from records carrying their own tracking option, class or location. Where each franchisee has their own ledger, the companies are separate connections and nobody invited to one can reach another.
Not to read their numbers in Vizii. They sign in with a one-time email link as a viewer and never get a login to the accounting system, so they use up no seat in it.
No. Figures are never combined across companies in Vizii. A network that keeps every store in one ledger already has its combined figures in that ledger; a network of separate ledgers needs a consolidation tool for a true group result.
Scoping can only be as good as the tagging underneath it. Untagged records group under an Uncategorised option, which you can include in or exclude from someone's scope — and its size is usually the prompt to tidy the coding up.
See it on your own numbers
Accounting firms are billed per client company with unlimited users. Running a single business? The standard plans start with a free trial.