Consolidation¶
Consolidation allows combining financial data from multiple separate companies, each with its own books, into a unified view, providing a “fair image” of the entire group’s financial health.
It helps create a clear, comprehensive view of the group’s financial performance by combining data from multiple companies.
Note
Consolidating companies involves legally separate entities, whereas branches are subdivisions of a single legal entity which often share the head office’s resources (journals, taxes, accounts, fiscal positions) and are not consolidated in the same way.
Consolidation tools¶
Several tools combined together will contribute to the construction of the financial consolidation:
Account Mapping: Similar accounts from different companies can be mapped together. To map accounts, go to and open the account. In the Mapping tab, enter a code in the corresponding company Code column to map the account.
screenshot: accounting-consolidation-account-mapping- menu
- Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Chart of Accounts ‣ (open a shared account) ‣ Mapping tab
- shows
- "Mapping" tab of a shared account listing each company with its own "Code".
- highlight
- The company / code lines (red frame).
- data
- Two demo companies "YourCompany HU" and "YourCompany AT" sharing the account "Income".
- module
- account
- notes
- English UI, light theme, 1440px width; the tab is only visible in multi-company databases.
Note
Import mapping or merge existing accounts using the merging tool can simplify the process.
Multi-Ledgers: Ledgers are fundamental to the process of consolidation. They are either:
Regular Ledgers: Each company in the consolidation scope has its own standard accounting ledger where all the regular day-to-day transactions are recorded. It excludes the company’s consolidation adjustment journals.
Multi-Ledger for Consolidation: The company doing the actual consolidation also has a special multi-ledger. This one includes all the other companies’ consolidation adjustments journals (the ones excluded from their own ledgers). This allows for viewing the total impact of all the adjustments.
To create a new ledger, go to and click New. Enter a name, pick the company the ledger is linked to and, most importantly, determine which journals are to be excluded from the ledger.
Multi-Company Selector: The consolidated view can be accessed using the multi-company selector. Selecting the consolidating company as the current company and making the other companies visible in the selector, all the journal items are displayed from the consolidating company’s perspective.
screenshot: accounting-consolidation-company-selector- menu
- (top bar) ‣ company selector
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- Company selector dropdown opened; the parent company is the current company and the subsidiaries are also checked.
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- The checked companies (red frame).
- data
- Demo companies "YourCompany HU" (parent) and "YourCompany AT" (subsidiary).
- module
- base
- notes
- English UI, light theme, crop to the top-right corner.
Account merging¶
Accounts can be merged to reduce the number of accounts and standardize them across companies. This is optional; consolidation works without it.
To use the merge tool, select all the companies with an account that needs to be merged in the company selector in the top right corner of the screen.
- menu
- (top bar) ‣ company selector
- shows
- Company selector dropdown with all the companies that have accounts to merge checked.
- highlight
- The checked companies (red frame).
- data
- Demo companies "YourCompany HU" and "YourCompany AT".
- module
- base
- notes
- English UI, light theme, crop to the top-right corner.
Then, go to and select the accounts to merge. Click the Actions menu and select Merge accounts (available to users with the Advisor access right).
In the Merge accounts window, enable the Group by name? option if needed, select the accounts to merge in the list, and click Merge.
The selected accounts are then merged into a single shared account, accessible by all the chosen companies, just as if the account had been directly created to be shared.
Account unmerging¶
Accounts can also be unmerged if needed.
Warning
Note that unmerging accounts will not unmerge the chatters of the accounts. Once merged, the changes’ histories are permanently merged.
To unmerge accounts, select a company with a shared account in the company selector at the top right corner of the screen. Then, go to and select the account to unmerge. Click the Actions menu and select Unmerge account.
A confirmation pop-up window will appear, listing how the accounts will be split.
- menu
- Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Chart of Accounts ‣ (select a shared account) ‣ Actions ‣ Unmerge account
- shows
- Confirmation dialog listing, for each company, the new account that will be created, with the Unmerge and Cancel buttons.
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- The "Unmerge" button (red frame).
- data
- Shared account "Income" between "YourCompany HU" and "YourCompany AT".
- module
- account
- notes
- English UI, light theme, crop to the dialog.
Click Unmerge. A new account linked to each company will be created for the previously shared account.
Import a mapping¶
To import an account mapping, select all the related companies in the company selector at the top right corner of the screen and go to .
First, to choose the fields to export, select the accounts, click the Actions button and select Export. Then, in the Export data window, add the Code mapping/Code, Code Mapping/Company and External ID fields using the icon and click Export. No other field is required.
Second, rework it in a spreadsheet adding the desired code for each company on desired accounts.
Third, to reimport the file (xlsx or csv format) in Odoo, click the icon next to the view title, select Import records, click Upload File, select the file, check the field mapping, and click Import.
Finally, the codes now take into account the mapping company per company.