Many businesses run on an accounting package with a handful of separate tools around it: a CRM for sales, a spreadsheet for inventory, an app for hours and something else for invoices. That works, until it doesn’t. An ERP system brings it all together. Here’s what it is, when you’re ready for one, and why we work with it as bookkeepers.
What is an ERP system?
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It’s one system for the main processes in your business: sales, purchasing, inventory, projects, HR and accounting. The difference from an accounting package plus separate tools: everything lives in one database. A customer, a product or an invoice exists only once, and every part of the system works with the same data.
With separate tools, you have to move information across: exporting, importing, or through integrations that sometimes break. Every handover is a chance for errors and delays.
When are you ready for one?
The signs are usually clear:
- You enter things twice. An order in one system, the invoice in another.
- The numbers don’t match. Revenue in your CRM differs from your books, and nobody knows exactly why.
- Inventory or hours live in spreadsheets. They’re never quite up to date and cost time every week.
- Month-end close takes days. Because everything has to be pulled together from different systems first.
- Your software doesn’t grow with you. New staff, products or locations fit in less and less well.
If you recognise two or more, it’s time to look at an ERP system. In practice, it suits businesses with roughly 5 to 100 employees best.
Why do we work with Odoo as bookkeepers?
For a bookkeeper, the biggest advantage of an ERP system is that the booking is created the moment the transaction happens. A quote becomes an order, the order becomes an invoice, and that invoice is in the books straight away. When the customer pays, the payment comes in through the bank feed and is matched to the invoice automatically.
| Step | With separate tools | In Odoo |
|---|---|---|
| Quote becomes order | Retype or export | One click |
| Order becomes invoice | Create the invoice in another package | Automatic |
| Invoice in the books | Import or enter it | Already there |
| Process the payment | Match it by hand | Through the bank feed |
| Monthly report | Collect everything first | Straight from the system |
As a result, the books are up to date every day, the numbers match across sales, inventory and accounting, and the monthly report comes straight out of the system. That’s also what we mean by numbers that add up, every day.
Why Odoo, and not another package?
There are other ERP systems. We work with Odoo for three reasons:
- Modular. Odoo is a set of apps that work together in one database: accounting, invoicing, CRM, inventory, projects, HR, webshop and more. You start small and switch on modules as you need them.
- Pay per user. With the Enterprise edition you pay per user, not per module. That keeps it affordable as you use more of it.
- Standard where possible. Odoo covers most of an SME’s processes without custom work. That makes updates easy and stops you being tied to one developer.
Odoo has a free Community edition and a paid Enterprise edition. For most SMEs we recommend Enterprise, hosted in the cloud by Odoo itself: no maintenance, with automatic updates and backups. Matching Numbers is an official Odoo partner.
What does a switch involve?
A move to Odoo runs in four phases with us:
- Intake (1 to 2 weeks): we map your processes and systems and decide together which modules you need.
- Set-up (3 to 8 weeks): we configure Odoo around the way you work, set up integrations and move your data across.
- Training (1 to 2 weeks): your team learns to work in Odoo using your own processes.
- Live and support: you go live process by process, and we then do your bookkeeping in Odoo.
A standard set-up with accounting, invoicing and CRM is usually live within six to eight weeks. Add inventory, projects or several integrations, and it takes three to four months.
When doesn’t Odoo fit?
An ERP system isn’t the right step for everyone. Odoo fits less well if:
- your processes still change every month, as in the very first phase of a startup;
- you can’t make time for the intake and training;
- you want or need a brand- or industry-specific package.
Then a good accounting package with a few smart integrations is often the better choice. Either way, we keep your books up to date every day.
How do we approach it?
We set up Odoo and then do your bookkeeping in it. So a question about a setting or about your numbers goes to the same people. Curious whether Odoo fits your business? Read more about our Odoo implementation or book a half-hour demo.
— Elaudt
