Effective financial management is a critical component of success for businesses seeking long-term growth and sustainability in today’s competitive market. Odoo 18 offers enhanced accounting capabilities that can help you optimise your financial operations, freeing up time for strategic planning and decision-making rather than laborious manual activities.
With Odoo 18, the future of accounting is more than just efficiency; it’s about enabling your company to achieve more, faster and smarter. Let’s look at the eight notable features of this version that will undoubtedly change the way you handle your business financial operations.
New Automation & Alerts for Invoices and Bills
- Abnormal Invoice Alert:
A statistics-based system now automatically detects abnormal amounts and dates in invoices, helping businesses prevent errors. - Autopost Bills:
Automatically post bills from selected vendors to save time and avoid manual posting errors. - Duplicate Bill Detection:
Enhanced detection of potential duplicates (in both draft and uploaded phases), featuring smart links for easy verification. - Warning for Potential Duplicate Invoices:
Receive quick alerts when a client invoice is suspected of being a duplicate based on matching criteria including customer, date and amount.
Enhanced Bank Reconciliation and Payments
- Simplified Batch Payment Matching:
In the bank reconciliation widget, batch payments are now represented by a single folded line, which simplifies payment matching. - Bank Statement Import with OCR:
Use OCR to automatically extract transactions from PDFs or image files. Easily import unsorted bank transactions. - Bills Payment Wizard with QR Codes:
To simplify outgoing vendor payments, the payment wizard now incorporates QR codes. - SEPA ISO 20022 & Direct Debit Improvements:
The SEPA module has been redesigned for clarity, and mandates now come with better UX that allows Send & Print choices for alerts. - Register Payments on Draft Invoices:
Payments can now be registered on draft invoices or bills, improving flexibility during the reconciliation process.
New Financial Budgets, Analytics & Reporting Tools
- Analytic Budgets:
Odoo offers new analytical budgets that are easier to manage; there are no longer any outdated budget lines or budgetary positions. - Financial Budgets on Profit & Loss Reports:
Profit and Loss reports now offer a comparison with financial budgets, making tracking easier. - Invoice Analysis Report:
A new report that includes margin calculations and basic inventory valuation directly from invoices, without needing the Inventory app. - Follow-Up Report & Partner Ledger Revamp:
These modules have been merged, with new features like automatic follow-ups and improved ledger views to exclude unnecessary details. - New Date Selector on Reports:
Navigate easily between periods with the new date selector.
Improved Layouts, Templates and Customisation
- Customised Invoice Templates:
Use Odoo Studio to design personalised invoice templates compatible with the Send & Print feature. - Catalog View for Invoices:
Customer invoices and vendor bills now have a catalogue view, enhancing the visibility of product information. - New Document Layouts:
Three new layouts provide more flexibility in document customisation. - Configure Layout Wizard Enhancement:
The layout wizard now uses real invoice data for previews and helps users add SEPA QR codes easily.
Advanced Payment Management and Intercompany Flexibility
- Credit Card Journal:
A new journal type allows you to easily manage credit card transactions, upload statements, and reconcile payments.. - Loan Management:
Automatically adjust your acquired loans using pre-defined or imported amortisation schedules. - Instalment Payments:
Invoices now support instalment payments, clearly displaying amounts on both the invoice form and the customer portal. - Intercompany Transactions:
Enjoy greater flexibility with intercompany transactions, now simplified through the use of booleans instead of radio buttons.
Compliance and Localisation Enhancements
- Accounting:
- Several UK-based companies on the same database can now simultaneously connect to HMRC without needing to manually remove credentials. Configure a start date for the fiscal period that is different from January 1st.
- Legal Notes on Taxes:
Add specific legal notes to taxes, helping you meet region-specific requirements effortlessly. - OSS Periodicity Improvements:
OSS reports now follow a distinct schedule, with quarterly OSS sales reports and monthly IOSS reports.
Streamlined Invoicing and Journals
- Preferred Invoicing Methods:
Easily define preferred invoice-sending methods and formats for customers, streamlining the batch-sending process. - Journal Email Alias & Alias for Misc Journals:
Automatically generate entries from email attachments using email aliases for journals. - Send & Print Visibility Improvements:
Enhanced visibility for the Send & Print feature simplifies your document management tasks.. - Payment Methods Per Partner:
Assign preferred payment methods for each partner to streamline invoice processing and facilitate mass payments.
Usability Improvements in Multi-Company and Ledger Management
- Multi-Ledger Improvements:
Experience enhanced usability for multi-ledger management, making grouping and filtering across companies more efficient. - Shared Accounts Between Companies:
The same account can now belong to multiple companies, with the ability to merge accounts across organisations. - Split Balance Sheet View:
Display the balance sheet horizontally in two halves to meet specific regional preferences.
Import and Matching Enhancements
- PO/Bill Matching Improvements:
Match open PO lines and vendor bill lines manually or create new POs directly from bills. - Import Matching Numbers:
Import matching numbers through CSV files for automatic reconciliation and retry attempts if reconciliation fails. - UBL Invoice Import:
Automatically populate the partner’s bank account when importing UBL (XML) invoices.
Currency and Exchange Rate Handling
- Currency Exchange Rate on Invoices:
Invoices now store and display exchange rates, providing clarity for international transactions. - Sales Taxes Price Settings:
Define sales taxes as price-included or price-excluded at the company level for consistency in pricing.
Conclusion
The latest Odoo Accounting release brings a host of exciting features that boost automation, enhance customization and offer greater flexibility for businesses, big and small. From simplified reconciliation processes to new analytic budgets and better compliance with regional standards, Odoo’s Accounting module is tailored to meet the dynamic needs of today’s businesses.
Discover how these features can elevate your financial management. Whether you’re new to Odoo or a seasoned user, explore these capabilities to transform your accounting experience today
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