The VAT change in Finland, introduced in September 2024, posed a major challenge for many companies. However, our finance team, led by CFO Konsta Aavaranta, rose to the challenge by developing a tailored solution.
Much ado about decimals
When the VAT change was announced, there was a lively debate in the media about its impact, and concerns about the challenges posed by the decimal point spread quickly. However, our finance team assures in one voice that the decimal point actually caused us no technical problems at all, as the Odoo system was already ready to handle it. Instead, the real challenges lay in dealing with various customer environments, a tight two-month deadline, and complex tax authority regulations.
"This was probably the third VAT change I have experienced in my life," says Solution Architect Johan Tötterman, one of the most experienced members of the team. "But for SprintIT it was a first. Of course, we are used to challenges, but this was a new situation for us.”
Dedicated modules to help all customers
In May, the new VAT base was finally confirmed, and our team had a plan in place to update our own accounting package. Quickly they realized that this alone would not be enough, so it was decided to develop a module that would cover the needs of all customers in a comprehensive way. What started as one module eventually became three.
The first module focused on updating the old tax rates. "This module saved a lot of time and minimized the risk of human error. The new taxes were created on top of the old ones all at once, simple and efficient!" says Solution Architect Joakim Weckman.
Johan continues on the second module: "The second module deals with dynamic data, such as open orders. The many specific rules from the tax authorities, such as whether the product was delivered before or after September, made this part particularly challenging." The module was split into parts so that the customer could select and update only the information they needed.
A third module helped ensure that down payments were correct for tax purposes: Odoo creates the final invoice and handles the down payments and invoice rows with ease. “In some ways this module was the easiest and safest, even if it sounds complicated”, Johan laughs. Joakim, however, chimes in: "As with coding in general, there's always the fear of making a mistake and then having to spend 10 hours cleaning up."
All hands on deck
Although the technical implementation of the module was in the capable hands of Joakim and Johan, the project would not have gone so well without the help of the whole team and the company.
200 customers had to be contacted to agree on schedules and measures, and it took everyone's input in addition to Sari Malkki, Laura Salo and Joonas Huhtamo, the in-house specialists in the finance team.
When building the module itself, good advice was given for example by Petri Härkönen from the Support team and others throughout the roles.
The result: successful change without chaos
The result: successful change without chaos
The new modules enabled customers to update their taxes quickly and accurately, with no major disruptions.
Joakim stresses the importance of the groundwork: "Good planning and documentation were key. When the module was clear enough and well documented, chaos was avoided and time was saved."
The team chuckles at how precise and clear they made the module: a paragraph of text was added next to each button explaining what the button meant, making it easy for the customer to complete the update. A few of our customers also took advantage of the instruction video we made and were successful with the change because of it.
Johan adds that he appreciated the chance to get to know new customers during the project, "It was great to work with companies I didn't know much about before.".
"Pressure is the best muse," says Konsta Aavaranta, CFO. "We were able to finish a statutory project in a financially sound way, while helping our customers in an efficient way."
"The modules that we developed are also ready for future changes - in fact, the next VAT change is probably on the cards for the turn of the year or at least next year. We are now better prepared than ever", Joakim concludes.
Read more about the module mentioned in the article and watch the video here
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