Odoo Purchase Module in Bangladesh: RFQs, LC Imports and VDS

Odoo Purchase manages the path from a request for quotation to a confirmed purchase order, through receipt in Inventory, to the vendor bill in Accounting. For Bangladesh companies the module has to deal with letter of credit imports that take weeks and carry duty, advance income tax and agent fees; with local vendors whose bills attract VDS and TDS deductions; with approval controls that finance insists on; and with a vendor base where many suppliers do not issue proper Mushak invoices. This page explains what the module does in Odoo 17 to 19 and how Bangladesh teams usually configure it. A new major version ships every October, so check the current one.

What the module does

Requests for quotation sent by email or printed, converted to purchase orders on confirmation.
Vendor pricelists with price per quantity, lead time and validity, so reordering picks the right supplier.
Purchase agreements: blanket orders for recurring supply and calls for tender for quote comparison.
Approval threshold: orders above an amount need a purchase manager.
Receipt in Inventory with backorders for partial deliveries.
Vendor bills from the order with three-way matching (ordered, received, billed).
Landed costs for duty, freight and agent fees on imports.
Reporting: spend by vendor, product and category, price variance, delivery performance.

Key features in Odoo 17 to 19

Feature	Community	Enterprise
RFQ, PO, vendor pricelists	Yes	Yes
Blanket orders and tenders	Yes	Yes
Single approval threshold	Yes	Yes
Multi-level approvals	OCA module	Approvals app
Vendor bill OCR	No	Yes, paid credits
Purchase dashboard with KPIs	Basic	Full
Automatic reorder from stock rules	Yes	Yes

Odoo 17 improved the replenishment report so purchasers can see suggested orders by vendor and lead time. Odoo 18 refined vendor pricelists with discounts per line and date ranges. Odoo 19 continues the same model.

Bangladesh-specific considerations

LC-based imports

An importer in Tejgaon buying machinery or raw material from China or India opens an LC through a local bank with a margin deposit. In Odoo, the purchase order holds the foreign currency price and expected date; custom fields carry the LC number, bank, opening date and expiry. The margin deposit and bank charges post in Accounting against the vendor or an LC-in-progress account. When goods clear Chattogram port, the receipt is recorded, and a landed cost document adds customs duty, supplementary duty, AIT, C&F agent fees, port charges and inland transport. Import VAT goes to VAT receivable, not to product cost; AIT goes to an advance tax asset. The vendor bill in foreign currency is then matched, and the exchange difference between LC rate and bill date posts automatically. Partial shipments are backorders on the same order.

Bonded imports for garments

Export garments factories import fabric and trims duty-free against a utilisation declaration. The purchase order should reference the UD and the LC so the bond register in Inventory can tie consumption back to the import. See the garments industry page for the BGMEA and bond context.

VDS and TDS on local vendor bills

When a company pays a local supplier for goods or services, it must often deduct VAT at source and tax at source and deposit them with NBR. Model each as a withholding tax (negative amount on the purchase side) that posts to a VDS payable or TDS payable account, and attach it through a fiscal position per vendor category: contractors, suppliers of goods, professional services, rent. The vendor is paid net, the deduction certificate is issued from a custom report, and the monthly deposit clears the payable. Vendors without a BIN cannot issue a Mushak 6.3, which affects your input VAT claim; flag such vendors in the vendor master.

Approval controls

Finance teams in Bangladesh often want tiered approvals: up to BDT 50,000 by the purchase officer, up to BDT 5 lakh by the manager, above that by a director. Community has one threshold; the Enterprise Approvals app or the OCA purchase_tier_validation module adds tiers. Decide the tiers during process design so the setup is a configuration, not a dispute after go-live.

Vendor master quality

Many local suppliers trade under multiple names and change phone numbers. Set a vendor master standard: legal name as on trade licence, BIN, TIN, bank account, payment terms and category. Deduplicate before import. Vendor performance reports in Odoo are only as good as this data.

Manufacturing demand

For factories, reordering rules and manufacturing orders create purchase demand automatically. The manufacturing module explains how component requirements turn into RFQs, which matters for plastics and pharma plants that buy resin and APIs on lead times of weeks.

Community vs Enterprise for purchase

Community includes almost everything procurement teams need: RFQs, pricelists, agreements, the single approval threshold, three-way matching and landed costs. Enterprise adds the Approvals app for tiered sign-off, bill OCR, and the Documents app for attaching LC papers and customs documents in a structured way. A trading company with 5 users will be comfortable on Community with an OCA approval module. A factory with a purchase committee will want Approvals. Enterprise pricing is roughly USD 24.90 to 37.40 per user per month at Odoo's US list price, usually less at the regional price shown from Bangladesh; confirm Bangladesh pricing on odoo.com/pricing and see the pricing guide.

Typical implementation steps

Document the procurement process as it really runs: who raises a requisition, who approves, who opens the LC.
Clean the vendor master to the standard above and import it.
Configure vendor pricelists for the top 50 products by spend.
Set up approval thresholds or tiers.
Configure withholding taxes and fiscal positions for VDS and TDS.
Add LC fields and the landed cost types for duty, AIT, freight and agent fees.
Set bill control to received quantities and train accounts payable on three-way matching.
Run one month of purchases in parallel with the old register, including one full import cycle.

Common mistakes

Creating the vendor bill at bill of lading date and the receipt at clearance date, which breaks matching.
Treating AIT and import VAT as product cost.
One withholding rate for all vendors.
Approvals configured after go-live, leaving a month of unapproved orders.
Purchase officers creating products on the fly, which corrupts the product master.

Frequently asked questions

How do we track a letter of credit in Odoo Purchase?

Odoo has no LC object by default. Most companies add an LC number, bank, opening date and expiry as custom fields on the purchase order, track the LC margin and bank charges in Accounting, and use the receipt and landed cost to close the loop. A small custom LC module is a common partner add-on.

The community ERP readiness checklist has a procurement section covering vendor master, approvals, import costs and withholding; complete it before the first purchase workshop. Receipts and valuation are covered on the inventory module page, and hands-on practice with receipts, backorders and landed costs is part of the inventory functional training. Manufacturers should also read Odoo for manufacturing.