Understanding Accounts and Organizations {#boarding-intro-organizations}
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You are assigned a **portfolio** account when you sign up. All merchant accounts are subordinate to the portfolio account. A merchant account consists of a **merchant** organization and its subordinate organizations, which always includes at least one **transacting** organization. You can use **structural** organizations to extend the hierarchy of merchant accounts.

* The **portfolio** account is always the top node in the hierarchy.

* A **merchant** organization represents a business entity. For example, a brand or company. There can only be one merchant in any branch of the hierarchy.

* A **transacting** organization represents an entity that processes payment transactions. For example, a physical store or a payment form on a web page or app. No other organization can be directly subordinate to a transacting organization.

* A **structural** organization represents a conceptual entity that enables you to build an expansive hierarchy between merchant and transacting nodes. For more information on using structural organizations to extend the hierarchy, see [Extend the Hierarchy](/docs/vas/en-us/boarding/user/all/ebc/boarding-user/boarding-extend-hierarchy.md "").  
  The image below shows a simple merchant account. The merchant organization is directly beneath the portfolio organization, and contains one transacting organization.

  #### Figure: {#boarding-intro-organizations_fig_a1v_cth_m5b}

  Simple Merchant Account ![](/content/dam/new-documentation/documentation/en-us/topics/platform/bam/boarding-user/images/create-merchant-account.svg/jcr:content/renditions/original)
  {#boarding-intro-organizations_ul_e22_mgl_g5b}