Odoo and your accountant: VAT, listings and closing.
Your accounting has to move to Odoo, and so does your accountant. Your accountant works in the same company file as you, with their own login.
An accountant should work in the same company file
When you switch, the accountant often has a say. Usually the accounting firm files the VAT return and prepares the annual accounts.
The firm usually notices first when something goes wrong in the accounting: a VAT return that does not add up, open items without an overview.
In Odoo your accountant sees the same figures as you, the moment they arise. They ask a question on the invoice itself, not in an email.
What Odoo does for Belgian filings
This is how it works in Odoo Enterprise.
The VAT return goes straight to Intervat.
Odoo prepares the periodic VAT return from the entries of the month or the quarter.
Before filing, Odoo shows what is still open, such as draft entries and bank transactions that are not reconciled.
Odoo then sends the return to Intervat, after you log in with FPS Finance. Uploading an XML file also works.
Once the VAT closing is posted, Odoo locks the period for entries with VAT. A late invoice goes into the next period.
The client listing and the intra-Community listing.
Odoo prepares the annual client listing and the intra-Community listing as an XML file. You upload that file to Intervat.
Intrastat if you trade goods within the EU.
Odoo takes the Intrastat data from the invoices, with the commodity code and the country of origin. You upload the XML file to OneGate of the National Bank of Belgium.
281.50 forms and advance payments.
Odoo prepares the 281.50 forms and the 325.50 summary statement, with a file for Belcotax.
For corporate tax advance payments, Odoo calculates the amount from an estimated profit, with the payment details included.
Peppol and bank statements come into Odoo.
Peppol invoices from suppliers land in the purchase journal. Bank statements come in through a bank integration or as a CODA file.
If your accounting firm works with CodaBox, Odoo fetches the CODA and SODA files from there. The firm sets up that integration, with its own CodaBox access.
Want to see how this would run at your organization?
The annual closing follows a fixed list of checks
For every fiscal year, Odoo prepares an annual closing. Odoo checks whether all bank transactions are reconciled and whether any draft entries remain.
It compares the open items of customers and suppliers with the balance of their accounts. Invoices more than 60 days overdue are listed separately.
Your accountant gives each check a status: Reviewed, Supervised or Anomaly. Then you set a lock date, and nobody can undo a hard lock date.
Odoo prepares the balance sheet and the profit and loss account according to the Belgian formats, in the abbreviated and the full model. Your accountant exports them as an XBRL file.
In an accounting migration we compare the balance sheet, the open items and the VAT returns with the old package. Your accountant approves the figures in a test environment.
How your accountant works in your Odoo
Their own login, with the rights that fit.
Per login you choose the accounting rights. With Read-only, your accountant sees all accounting data without being able to change anything.
The Bookkeeper role gives all accounting features, without the settings. An Administrator also gets the settings.
The firm as representative on the returns.
In the settings you designate the accounting firm. Odoo then lists it as representative on the VAT return and the listings.
Faster entry with Accounting Firms mode.
If the firm enters vendor bills itself, you turn on Accounting Firms mode. You enter the total, and Odoo creates the line with account and VAT.
Questions stay with the document.
Your accountant asks a question on the invoice or the entry itself. Your team gets a notification and answers there. That way the explanation stays with the record.
Several companies in one environment.
In Odoo each company keeps its own accounting and its own VAT return. Your accountant gets rights per company.
Not every firm works in its clients' Odoo
Some firms work in a single package of their own for all their clients. Then we look at how the data can transfer without double work.
For Exact Online and Winbooks we maintain our own integration with Odoo.
With two packages you do search in two systems, and a correction happens in two places. That is why we advise one company file.
A quarter with the accountant in Odoo
A wholesaler invoices from Odoo and also delivers to customers in the Netherlands and Germany. The accounting firm has a login with the Bookkeeper role.
After the quarter, the accountant opens the VAT return. Odoo still flags bank transactions that are not reconciled.
The accountant asks for an explanation on the invoice itself, and the back office answers there.
The firm then files the return as representative, straight from Odoo. The intra-Community listing follows from the same entries.
Ask about your own cases in the demo. Think of a VAT return from a previous quarter, a credit note within the EU and the client listing. Have your accountant join you.
We set up Odoo, the return stays with your accountant
We configure VAT, the listings, Intrastat, CODA and Peppol during the implementation. What goes into a return is decided by you and your accountant.
This page is not tax advice: the rules are published by the FPS Finance.
Abstractive is an Odoo Silver Partner in Affligem, between Ghent and Brussels. Since 2016 we have set up Odoo for organizations in the Benelux.
Questions about Odoo and your accountant
Can our accounting firm move to Odoo with us?
Yes, your accountant works in your Odoo with their own login, with the rights you choose.
In an accounting migration, the firm approves the figures in a test environment. That way it gets to know Odoo on your own company file.
Do we pay an Odoo license for our accountant?
According to Odoo's pricing page, an external accountant who works in Odoo counts as a paying user. That is what it says on odoo.com/pricing.
The license runs directly through Odoo. Odoo charges per user, not per app.
Our firm does not know Odoo yet. What then?
Your accountant can first take a look in the test environment, with your own figures.
If your organization is looking for a firm that already works with Odoo, Odoo keeps a list of accounting firms that do.
A conversation about your accounting and your accountant
Bring your accountant to the free assessment. We map how your whole organization works, then a tailored demo follows.