install new version of FA on the same server as second company

I'm not sure if this helps you, but you can create a new company by going into Setup -> Create/Update Companies.  Be sure to enter a different table prefix for the second company.  Once that's done, when someone goes to login they're presented with a drop down box to select the company they want to log into, the first company being the original company (two partners), and the second company being the new company (after the split).

Once the second company is created, you can do journal entries to post the starting balances from the old company (i.e. the account balances at the time of the split.)  The data is still in the old company in detailed format, and is now also in the new company as an opening balance.  Then, you just carry on with entering transactions into the new company as they occur.

I hope the above is helpful to you.

Regards,

Chris

My assumption, which was apparently wrong, was that when the original company was "split" the new company would "start" with opening GL account balances comprised of a percentage of the assets, liabilities and equity of the original company based on how they were split-up when the partners separated.  If not, and you're starting from scratch, then everything else I said applies.  Just don't enter any opening balances from the old company.

The "bottom line" is that FA does handle multiple companies by using different table prefixes for each company.  Then, when someone logs onto the system, the select the commpany they want from the drop down list.

Regards,

Chris