Companies equipped with an ERP like Odoo naturally expect rigorous management of their banking flows. However, in most cases, bank synchronization relies on an imperfect method: retrieving transactions alone, without the complete bank statements. An approach that, at first glance, seems sufficient... but hides many shortcomings.
For financial managers, CFOs, or business leaders, this distinction between transactions and bank statements (CODA) is not a mere technical detail: it directly impacts the quality of accounting, the traceability of flows, and the security of operations.
Bank transactions: a partial view of the account
Connectors based on the PSD2 standard (such as Ponto, or Odoo's native synchronization) allow retrieving transactions from your bank account. These are the movements: payments, receipts, fees, etc.
But this type of synchronization does not include:
- The opening and closing balance of the account,
- The corresponding bank statement number,
- Attachments that some banks associate with movements,
- The official structure of a statement as issued by Isabel.
In short, you get movement lines, but without their official banking context. And this has significant consequences.
What you lose with simple transaction synchronization:
- ❌ Impossible to control the statement balance,
- ❌ No visibility on the covered periods,
- ❌ Loss of traceability for audits,
- ❌ Increased risks of accounting misalignment,
- ❌ Difficulty detecting a missing or empty statement.
CODA bank statements: a basis of reliability and control
The CODA format, used notably by Belgian banks, is a structured standard containing:
- The statement number,
- The initial and final balance,
- Bank movements, with details,
- Any attachments (supporting documents).
It is this format that accountants, auditors, and reviewers use to validate the consistency of entries.
With Isabel Connect, Odoo users can directly retrieve these CODA statements from Isabel 6 every morning, without any manual action.
✅ What you gain:
- 🧾 An identified and traceable statement in Odoo,
- 📊 Automatically verified balances,
- 📂 Storage of attachments and supporting documents,
- 🔄 Consideration of empty CODA files to maintain the banking sequence.
The limits (and dangers) of transactional synchronization
Many companies today use a transactional connector to "simplify" bank integration. But they face recurring business pains:
Limiting factors:
- Time lost manually downloading statements weekly/monthly,
- No guarantee that balances are correct at the end of the period,
- Risk of Odoo ↔ bank desynchronization if a statement is missing or incomplete,
- No control over supporting documents associated with transactions,
- Complicated management of bank access (who can connect? with what rights?),
- Increased fraud risk if payment files are manually manipulated before sending.
Isabel Connect: your complete bank statements in Odoo, automatically
The Isabel Connect solution, developed by Idealis Solutions, solves these issues without overloading your processes.
Thanks to direct integration with Isabel 6, you benefit in Odoo from:
- Automatic downloading of CODA statements every morning,
- Automatic verification of opening and closing balances,
- Exact and continuous numbering of statements,
- Secure storage of statements, even empty ones, to avoid any sequence break,
- Complete visibility on flows, with official banking reference.
These features save considerable time for our clients daily.
🎥 ➡️ See our client testimonial
Accounting quality starts with reliable statements
Transaction synchronization may seem sufficient on the surface, but it leaves too many shadows for a company concerned about compliance, auditability, and productivity.
Adopting CODA statements means:
- Strengthening the reliability of banking data in Odoo,
- Ensuring traceability and control required by auditors,
- Saving valuable time for your accounting teams,
- Offering leaders a consolidated and verified view of their cash flow.
Want to know more?
👉 Discover the Isabel Connect solution and secure the quality of your bank reconciliations in Odoo today.
Quick FAQ
🟠 Do all banking connectors allow retrieving statements?
No. Most (such as those based on PSD2) only retrieve transactions, without CODA-type files.
🟠 Is it risky to have only transactions in Odoo?
Yes. Without balances and statement numbers, it is difficult to guarantee account accuracy and detect missing items.
🟠 What happens if a statement is empty?
With Isabel Connect, even empty statements are recorded, ensuring continuity of numbering and accounting consistency.
🟠 Does the integration work with all banks?
It works with Belgian banks that transmit CODA files to Isabel. Most major banks are compatible
Bank transactions or statements: which method guarantees the reliability of your accounting in Odoo?