> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.practiceownersguide.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Setting up your practice's banking
> The account structure that determines whether your books are easy or miserable — and the decisions with a long tail, from payer deposits to deposit insurance.
Two facts make this worth an hour of thought. Every payer EFT enrollment points at a specific account, so changing accounts later means touching every payer ([the switching guide](/guides/switch-banks)). And the account structure you pick determines whether your books are easy or miserable.
## The minimum structure
```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TD
P[Payer deposits] --> OP[Operating account
1 payroll cycle + 1 month expenses]
PT[Patient payments] --> OP
OP -->|fixed % of collections| TX[Tax reserve]
OP -->|excess above threshold| SV[Savings / yield]
OP --> OUT[Payroll, rent, vendors, loan]
```
**Operating** receives payer deposits and pays expenses. This is the account in every EFT enrollment. **Tax reserve** gets a fixed percentage of collections on a schedule (your CPA sets the rate). It prevents the most common first-year injury: spending the IRS's money. **Savings** holds everything above the operating threshold, somewhere that pays yield.
Personal funds never touch these accounts. Commingling is what lets a plaintiff argue your PC's liability shield shouldn't hold. The entity pays you; you pay your life from your own account.
## Decisions with a long tail
**Which account receives payer deposits.** Semi-permanent. Judge a bank on whether you'd run payer money through it for a decade, because re-enrollment is the exit toll.
**Who has access.** Role-based access from day one: the office manager views and initiates below a limit, you approve above it. Practice embezzlement is an insider event, and dual control is the cheapest insurance there is.
**Where paper arrives.** Some payers and patients will always mail checks. Pick one intake point (front desk, PO box, or [lockbox](/concepts/lockboxes)) with one accountable owner.
**Deposit insurance.** FDIC covers \$250k per depositor, per bank ([FDIC](https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/)). A healthy practice exceeds that fast. Options: multiple banks, sweep networks that spread balances across many insured banks, or conscious concentration risk.
## Multiple entities
One entity, its own accounts, no exceptions. Money crosses entity lines only as documented transfers consistent with your management agreements. This is an MSO-PC compliance requirement, not a bookkeeping preference. See [practice banking structure](/concepts/practice-banking-structure) and the [MSO-PC Wiki](https://mso.getlemma.com).
**Lemma aside:** Lemma is built for this pattern: per-entity accounts in one dashboard, automated sweep rules, role-based access with approval limits, yield with expanded FDIC coverage, and a lockbox per entity.
## Where next
Choose your entity.
Enroll in EFT/ERA.
Buy a practice.