Moving from Sage to Odoo.
Most businesses on Sage are not unhappy with the accounting. They are unhappy that stock, orders, jobs and quotes live somewhere else, and that the join between them is a person. This is what the move involves.
The same ledger, with the operation attached to it.
Nothing about double entry changes. What changes is that the document which creates the entry now lives in the same system.
Nominal codes and the nominal ledger
Chart of accounts, usually restructured rather than copied code for code
Departments and cost centres
Analytic accounts and plans, which also attach to projects and timesheets
Customer and supplier accounts
One contact record, used by sales, purchasing, invoicing and support alike
Stock module, or a separate stock system
Inventory with locations, lots and serials, valued continuously against the ledger
Quotes and orders in Word, Excel or a bolt-on
Quotation to order to delivery to invoice as one chain, no re-keying
VAT return and MTD submission
UK localisation with VAT reporting; we confirm the current MTD submission route as part of scoping
The four things to get right.
The chart of accounts
Years of Sage nominal codes usually contain analysis that belongs in analytic accounts instead. Copying them across preserves a structure you have outgrown.
Stock valuation
Cost method and valuation basis have to be agreed with your accountant before loading, because changing it afterwards means restating.
VAT continuity
Switch at the start of a VAT quarter so no return is split across two systems. This single decision removes most of the risk.
The bolt-ons
Most Sage sites have three or four satellite tools. Scoping decides which are replaced by Odoo apps and which stay and get integrated.
Questions we get asked.
Which Sage products can you migrate from?
Anything that exports. Desktop and cloud lines both work; the difference is how much of the history is reachable and how clean the export is.
Can we run Sage and Odoo side by side?
For the parallel-run period, yes, and we recommend it. As a permanent arrangement, no — two ledgers means reconciling forever.
Will our accountant object?
Rarely, once they can see the opening balances reconcile and export what they need. Bring them in at discovery rather than at go-live.
When in the year should we switch?
Start of a VAT quarter, away from year-end and your peak season. Everything else is negotiable; this one saves real money.