A multi-company group, unified end to end

The structural decision comes before any configuration

A group can run every entity in one Odoo database with company-level record rules, or keep separate databases and consolidate outside the system. One database makes intercompany flows and group reporting native and makes divergence expensive. Separate databases give each entity total freedom and make consolidation a recurring manual exercise. This is the decision that shapes everything after it, and it is worth settling deliberately rather than discovering.

Intercompany transactions should generate their own counterpart

When one entity sells to another, the matching purchase in the receiving company is mechanical work that is reliably done late and occasionally wrong. Odoo can generate the counterpart document automatically on the same database, which is what makes intercompany balances agree without a month-end reconciliation ritual.

Shared master data is the real win, and the real risk

Products, partners and charts of accounts can be shared across companies or held separately. Sharing removes duplicate maintenance and makes group reporting meaningful. It also means a change made in one entity is felt in all of them, so ownership of master data has to be assigned to someone before go-live rather than negotiated afterwards.

Should a group use one database or one per company?

One database when entities share customers, products or reporting and you want consolidation to be native. Separate databases when entities are genuinely independent and divergence matters more than group visibility. The trade is consolidation effort against local freedom, and it should be decided at architecture time, not discovered during user acceptance.

Does Odoo generate intercompany documents automatically?

Within a single database, yes: a sale in one company can generate the matching purchase in another, so both sides post without manual re-entry and intercompany balances agree by construction.

Can companies use different currencies and charts of accounts?

Yes. Each company carries its own currency and chart of accounts, with group reporting presented in the parent's currency. Charts can be shared where entities are similar, which reduces mapping work at consolidation.

How is access controlled between entities?

Through company-level record rules: users are allowed into the companies they belong to and see only those records. This is the mechanism that makes a shared database acceptable to entities that must not see each other's data.