Configuring Odoo for Multi-company

• Introduction - Overview of Multi-company in Odoo
• Activating developer mode and the multi-company option
• Handling multi-company operations at the user level
• Configuring multiple currencies
• Activating and managing multiple price lists
• Configuring country groups to manage multiple currencies
• Setting up separate chart of accounts for each country
• Configuring language translations for multiple countries
• Loading and updating currency and exchange rates
• Creating quotations with multiple companies and price lists

Why would I want to use multi-company in Odoo?

Often times when working with large companies to break down the companies into smaller regions or segments for reporting and configuration purposes. Each company for example can have their own balance sheet and income statement. The ability to assign a parent company means data can easily roll up giving you both the detail and summary view of company operations.

We recommend you, though, to always use a flat company structure because this type of parent - child company can bring additional problems like pulling a sales order to a invoice from one company to other and that will create some permission issues. Flat structure will be much more easy to manage, just think of all the possible scenarios.

Setting up Odoo for multi-company operations

There are a few things that you need to know to setup Odoo for multi-company operations. If part of your objective is to configure Odoo to utilize multiple currencies or languages you will need to identify what those currencies are and which currencies will be utilized for each company. Remember that handling multiple currencies will affect the transactions within the system. Make sure you test thoroughly.

Geo localization can also be brought to this equation, make sure that our website customers just have access to the price lists that you wish. We also recommend you to check out the video lesson, "Manage Prices by Location Using Geo-IP in Odoo."

Not every solution will require multiple companies

Often times it can appear that having multiple companies will solve a business requirement when in fact it can just make management more complex. Typically multi-company works most effectively when they match your governmental reporting requirements. One simple rule: If you don't have to file taxes as multiple companies, perhaps you don't need multiple companies in Odoo. Take the time to look carefully at how the configuration will operate day-to-day if you have any doubts which is the best approach.