About budget hierarchy - Equals Documentation

Parent budgets and sub-budgets

Every account has at least one budget known as the parent budget, which is set up during onboarding. An account can have many other budgets, known as sub-budgets. These sub-budgets can have their own sub-budgets. You can transfer money between budgets belonging to the same account instantly and at no cost. Every budget has at least one currency balance, but can have several. For example, you could have a budget with a USD currency balance and a GBP currency balance.

Diagram showing an example of a budget hierarchy with multiple sub-budgets and currencies

Budget types

Every budget has a type, which is set when it’s created and can’t be changed later.

Type	Description
`accountBalance`	The parent budget. There is only ever one per account. This type of budget can be used for payments, orders, internal transfers, and currency exchanges.
`individual`	A sub-budget that is locked to a single person. This type of budget can be used for card payments (individual cards), internal transfers, and currency exchanges. If the `payments` feature is enabled, it can also be used for outbound payments.
`shared`	A sub-budget that can be used by multiple people. This type of budget can be used for card payments (individual and shared cards), internal transfers, and currency exchanges. If the `payments` feature is enabled, it can also be used for outbound payments.

​Parent budgets and sub-budgets

​Budget types

Parent budgets and sub-budgets

Budget types