I know you're this company's bookkeeper and not their lawyer, but reading this gives me hives. The entire reason for businesses to have separate bank accounts is to provide accountability and limit liability. Mixing payments like this will make it harder to keep track of each business's finances, make it easier to commit fraud, **and** make it more likely that the corporate veil is pierced in the event of some sort of legal trouble.
If I were the bookkeeper, my best advice to the owner would be that if they're determined to do this, they should withdraw the money from Bank B as an owner's draw from Company B, deposit the money into Bank A as an owner's investment into Company A, and then pay the Company A credit card from Bank A, all as three separate transactions.
Clarification:
I think that full prudence is to actually move the money between bank accounts, and pay Company A's bills from Company's A bank account. This shouldn't be just some fancy accounting trick done in software. The bank statements for each company should show the money being moved.
This could sound cumbersome and convoluted to the owner. This is like an insurance policy against anything in the future where Company A or B get into legal trouble. If it's discovered that transactions for A come from B's accounts, then legal action could drag both companies into the proceedings.
I second that first comment. Another perspective is imagine planning for growth by starting more businesses then 10 years down the line, you have more than just 2 businesses. Even if it's a very small business, you're making it almost impossible to scale without ending up in complete chaos.
I know you're this company's bookkeeper and not their lawyer, but reading this gives me hives. The entire reason for businesses to have separate bank accounts is to provide accountability and limit liability. Mixing payments like this will make it harder to keep track of each business's finances, make it easier to commit fraud, **and** make it more likely that the corporate veil is pierced in the event of some sort of legal trouble. If I were the bookkeeper, my best advice to the owner would be that if they're determined to do this, they should withdraw the money from Bank B as an owner's draw from Company B, deposit the money into Bank A as an owner's investment into Company A, and then pay the Company A credit card from Bank A, all as three separate transactions.
Clarification: I think that full prudence is to actually move the money between bank accounts, and pay Company A's bills from Company's A bank account. This shouldn't be just some fancy accounting trick done in software. The bank statements for each company should show the money being moved. This could sound cumbersome and convoluted to the owner. This is like an insurance policy against anything in the future where Company A or B get into legal trouble. If it's discovered that transactions for A come from B's accounts, then legal action could drag both companies into the proceedings.
I second that first comment. Another perspective is imagine planning for growth by starting more businesses then 10 years down the line, you have more than just 2 businesses. Even if it's a very small business, you're making it almost impossible to scale without ending up in complete chaos.
As long as it’s the same ownership for both businesses, yes - owners draws is the way to go.