Weekly Odoo Notes: practical Odoo updates for Caribbean businesses
Earlier in this series we covered what Odoo 20 means for your business and what was announced and what it costs. This post looks at the less exciting but more important side: what changes in the way your team works after an upgrade.
Odoo 20 was launched at Odoo Experience on September 24, 2026. Alongside the new features, the official release notes list several features that were restructured, renamed or removed, and one app (Field Service) that was merged into another. None of this is a reason to avoid Odoo 20, but check it first so your accountant, cashiers or payroll team aren't surprised after go-live.
1. Accounting: account groups become parent accounts
Odoo 20 replaces account groups (the old way of grouping your chart of accounts for reports) with parent accounts: a simple structure where accounts sit under a main ("parent") account.
Why it matters: if your balance sheet or profit and loss reports rely on account groups, check that they still add up correctly after the upgrade. Do this on a test copy, well before your next year-end close.
2. Point of Sale: a different closing entry
At the end of a POS session, Odoo 20 posts the session's sales as one combined customer invoice in a closing journal, instead of several separate accounting entries.
Why it matters: this should make the books cleaner, but any report, local tax setup or custom add-on that read the old session entries needs to be reviewed. Close a few test sessions and compare the results with your current way of working.
3. Field Service: now part of Planning
The separate Field Service app has been discontinued. Its features (jobs as scheduled shifts with the customer's address, maps, worksheets, reports and stock) now live in the Planning app, part of Odoo Enterprise (the paid edition).
Why it matters: service companies, such as air-conditioning, maintenance or installation businesses, will need to set up Planning and retrain their technicians. Allow a few weeks for this.
4. AI features use paid credits
The new AI features run on prepaid credits (Odoo calls them IAP, or In-App Purchase, credits), billed on top of your subscription.
Why it matters: AI is useful, but usage costs money. Decide which AI features you actually need and set a credit budget, instead of switching everything on.
How to prepare
- List which of the four changes apply to you.
- Upgrade a copy, not your live database. Run a normal week of transactions on it.
- Include a month-end close in the test. Most accounting and POS differences show up there.
- Pick a quiet go-live date. Avoid year-end closing, the December holidays for retail and, for tourism businesses, high season (roughly December to April).
Next steps
- On Odoo 17 or older? Odoo's standard support covers the three most recent versions; with Odoo 20 released, that is 18, 19 and 20. Start planning, using this list to scope the work.
- On Odoo 18 or 19? No rush. You're still supported, so take the time to test on a copy.
- Using POS, or Field Service? Give these apps extra testing time.
Not sure which of these changes affect your Odoo setup? Contact us for a short upgrade check. We handle Odoo implementations and upgrades together with our implementation partner, Insight Accounting.