---
title: "Account structure"
description: "Learn about merchant accounts and how to navigate between them in Essentials."
url: "https://docs.adyen.com/franchisees/account-structure"
source_url: "https://docs.adyen.com/franchisees/account-structure.md"
canonical: "https://docs.adyen.com/franchisees/account-structure"
last_modified: "2026-05-26T13:48:56+02:00"
language: "en"
---

# Account structure

Learn about merchant accounts and how to navigate between them in Essentials.

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

You have one or more Adyen **merchant accounts** for processing payments. If you have several merchant accounts, you get a separate [payout](/essentials/getting-paid) and a separate [monthly invoice](/essentials/payment-processing-invoice) for each of your merchant accounts.

## Multiple physical stores

If you have multiple physical stores associated to a single legal entity, you have one of the following setups, depending on your franchisor:

* A separate merchant account for each store. You get a separate payout and a separate invoice for each store.
* A single merchant account for all your stores. You get a single payout and invoice for all your stores.

## Multiple legal entities

If you have multiple legal entities, you get a separate merchant account for each of your legal entities. For example, if you have a legal entity in the US and in Germany, you will have at least two merchant accounts.

## Switch to another merchant account

In [Essentials](https://essentials-live.adyen.com/essentials), you can view and manage a single merchant account at a time.

To switch to a different merchant account:

1. In the upper-left corner, select the name of the current merchant account.
2. Select the merchant account that you want to switch to.

[![](/user/pages/docs/29.essentials/13.account-structure/switch-account.png)](/user/pages/docs/29.essentials/13.account-structure/switch-account.png)