There were 3 main ways of entering the army as an officer - transfer from a foreign army, promotion from the ranks or, most commonly, as a cadet. There were several different kinds of cadets:

Fahnen-Cadetten - Those training at Wiener Neustadt Academy, which had been set up Maria Theresa in 1751. Each class comprised 200 cadets, split evenly between the high nobility and the sons of officers and government officials. They were the crème of cadets with the easiest path to promotion. One would be attached to a Regiments staff and the other would go to 1st Battalion's staff.

Kaiser Cadetten - exclusively the sons of active officers, appointed by the Hofskriegrat (the Supreme War Council). There were 6 per Regiment, one per Company.

Regiments-Cadetten - volunteers or recruits recruited directly by the Regiment of no set number;

After 12 months, Cadets would be promoted to Unter-Leutnant (one per company) responsible for training and inspections. An Ober-Leutnant was the deputy commander of a company.

A Captain (Hauptmann in the Infantry, Rittmeister in the Cavalry) was the company commander, responsible for administration and discipline. He would answer directly to the Regimental Major. There were also the Captains-Lieutenant who were Lieutenants who commanded the personal companies of the senior Regimental officers without the pay or any of the perks of being a Captain.

The Regimental Major was responsible for maintaining the standards of the troops. There was also a second major to assist him. These two would command battalions in the field.

The Lieutenant-Colonel (Oberstlieutenant) was responsible for administration and welfare of the Regiment as a whole and would command one of the battalions in the field (when there were 3 battalions per Regiment).

There would be two Colonels attached to each Regiment - the Colonel-Commandant and the Colonel-Proprietor (Inhaber). The Colonel-Commandant was the true commander of the Regiment and was responsible for all Regimental administration and promotions of officers and NCOs. The Inhaber was a remnant of feudal times, when an individual would raise their own Regiments at personal expense. The Regiment would be named after the Inhaber and the name would change if he moved to another Regiment or passed on. Inhaber once held ultimate control of the Regimen, but over the period these privileges were eroded until it became largely an honorary position largely held by Generals and Field-Marshals. The Inhaber held power as the supreme judge of the Regiment, though this power over officers was removed in 1769; he would decide promotions within the Regiment, though promotion decisions for senior officers was transferred to the Hofskriegsrat in 1766; no man in the Regiment could marry without his permission. He could also claim part of all of a deceased officers estate. He was also ultimately responsible for the Regiments finances, which offered great opportunities for corruption for those so inclined.

Promotion for company officers (Captains and below) was controlled by the Inhaber while higher ranks were controlled by the Hofskriegrat. There was no official system of purchasing commission, however the Inhaber system was, as noted, wide open to corruption. This meant that an Inhaber so inclined would be willing to promote recruits with plenty of cash to spare. Additionally, any newly promoted officer would be unable to take up their duties before being presented to the Colonel by the Regimental Major, who would expect a gift in order to perform this duty. Higher ranks were expected to make a "contribution" to the Hofskriegsrat - there was a set scale of fees and agents in Vienna would arrange the payments (and would take their cut as well). There were also gifts to the more senior officers up the chain of command for each promotion. Various monarchs attempted to curb the practice, against opposition from those with the service - the Prince de Ligne would remark that "it was beneficial to the interior economy of the service". Efforts were made to regulate the practice; for instance only one rank could purchased at a time before the practice was finally outlawed in 1848.

Austrian Regiments were significantly larger than the other great powers during the Napoleonic period. At the time of the Wagram campaign an infantry Regiment would in peace time have 2 field Battalions of 6 Companies, a depot or garrison Battalion of 4 Companies and a grenadier Division of 2 companies. During wartime the depot Battalion would raise 2 extra Companies to bring a total strength of 20 Companies. While this organisation was not markedly different from other armies - a French infantry Regiment of the same period would be 4 field Battalions of 6 Companies each and a 4 Company depot Battalion - Austrian infantry companies were significantly larger than their counterparts. A "German" infantry company (which could mean a unit recruited in German, Italian, Walloon or Czech speaking lands) had 186 during peace, augmented to 198 during war. Hungarian Regiments (some of which spoke actually German, because Habsburgs going to Habsburg) were even larger - 206 during peace and 219 during war giving a total of 3,318 or 3,638 during peace and 4,053 or 4,401 during war. By comparison, a French Company was 140 men and a Regiment was 3,970 - even this was considered large and unwieldy. Note that these were theoretical strengths and were rarely achieved in practice, conscripts were frequently sent to their Regiments and then sent on indefinite leave until war broke out, leaving Regiments marching to war with masses of untrained men - Archduke Ferdinand generously allowed the newly recalled men marching to Ulm to be trained with 6 live shots per man.

The Austrians did not use Corps and Division organisation until 1809. Prior to this the army would be divided in Wings and Columns, each comprising a number of Brigades. These were not permanent organisations but were assigned to a General who would bring his own staff retinue to their command. This meant that that the burden of paperwork fell to the army level headquarters necessitating the laborious process of writing and transmission of detailed orders to their subordinate units whereas Napoleon had the flexibility to issue general orders to his Corps commanders. After Ulm and Austerlitz, Archduke Charles attempted to create permanent Brigades and Corps but these were too rigidly organised compared to the more flexible French units. Divisions were also present, but these weren't permanent standing formations.