CassKai vs Pennylane: Pennylane for France, CassKai for your OHADA subsidiaries

Pennylane is an excellent tool for France-only SMEs and does far more than it is often credited for: multi-currency, multi-company, automatic FX differences. We built CassKai for the use case it does not cover natively: managing simultaneously a French holding in PCG and OHADA subsidiaries in SYSCOHADA, from a single platform.

Overview

Pennylane is a French accounting and financial management platform founded in 2020 that has become one of the references for French SMEs. According to their public documentation, Pennylane already natively covers multi-currency invoicing (with automatic FX rate retrieval), automatic FX gain/loss handling in PCG format (accounts 656/756), multi-company management on a single account, a consolidated group dashboard, and an integration with Joiin for accounting consolidation. It is a modern cloud product, perfectly positioned for French SMEs and groups with a strong French anchor (SIREN, French chart of accounts, French taxation).

CassKai shares with Pennylane the cloud SaaS DNA and modern interface, but targets a different segment: French-African entrepreneurs and groups with both a French entity and one or more entities in the OHADA zone. Our structural difference: we built four native accounting standards from day one — French PCG, OHADA SYSCOHADA (17 countries), IFRS and Algerian SCF — with no plugin or additional module to buy. The fixed XOF/EUR parity (655.957) is built into our FX engine, which removes translation differences across the UEMOA zone and drastically simplifies France-OHADA consolidation.

The right reflex is therefore not 'Pennylane or CassKai'. It is rather: Pennylane for your French holding if you stay within a pure France perimeter, CassKai for your group as soon as an OHADA subsidiary enters the perimeter.

Feature Comparison

Feature CassKai Pennylane
Native French PCG accounting ✓ ✓
Native SYSCOHADA accounting (17 OHADA countries) ✓ ✗
Native IFRS accounting ✓ ✗
Native Algerian SCF accounting ✓ ✗
Multi-currency (invoices, payments) ✓ ✓
Automatic FX gains/losses (PCG 656/756) ✓ ✓
Built-in fixed XOF/EUR parity (655.957) ✓ Manuel
Multi-company on a single account ✓ ✓
Group consolidated dashboard ✓ ✓
Native multi-standard accounting consolidation ✓ Via Joiin
PCG ↔ SYSCOHADA mapping for restatements ✓ ✗
DSF filing per OHADA country ✓ ✗
FNE Cote d'Ivoire format (certification in progress) Pris en charge ✗
MECeF Benin format (built for) Conçu pour ✗
French PPF / Factur-X (e-invoicing reform) ✓ ✓
Automatic bank aggregation Import CSV/OFX/PDF + Bridge API (en cours) ✓
African banks supported Import CSV/OFX/PDF Limité

Pricing

Plan CassKai Pennylane
Model SaaS abonnement SaaS abonnement
See our pricing casskai.app/pricing pennylane.com/tarifs

Strengths

CassKai

  • ✓Four native accounting standards (PCG, SYSCOHADA, IFRS, SCF) in the same platform, no plugin or additional module
  • ✓Built-in fixed XOF/EUR parity (655.957) — removes translation differences across UEMOA and simplifies France-OHADA consolidation
  • ✓Built-in PCG ↔ SYSCOHADA ↔ IFRS ↔ SCF mapping for consolidation restatements
  • ✓Native production of SYSCOHADA statements (Balance, P&L, TAFIRE) and DSF per OHADA country
  • ✓Support for UEMOA formats (FNE, MECeF, SECeF) and Algerian Jibayatic — certification in progress with the relevant DGIs
  • ✓Built for French-African groups: multi-entity, multi-country, multi-currency, multi-standard — one tool to steer everything

Pennylane

  • ✓Excellent product for France-only SMEs: polished UX, strong PCG anchor, deep integration with the French ecosystem (URSSAF, DSN, French banks)
  • ✓Multi-currency and automatic FX gains/losses (PCG accounts 656/756) already natively supported per their public documentation
  • ✓Multi-company on a single account with a consolidated group dashboard
  • ✓Joiin integration for advanced accounting consolidation
  • ✓Network of French accounting firms partnered with Pennylane (useful if you want to collaborate with a firm)

Target Audience

Pennylane is the excellent choice if your activity is anchored in metropolitan France: French SIREN, French taxation, mainly French customers and suppliers, URSSAF/DSN/French VAT filings. Even if you have a few USD or GBP invoices, Pennylane handles multi-currency and FX differences. And if you run a small group of French holdings, Pennylane's multi-company and consolidated dashboard cover your needs.

CassKai becomes the right choice as soon as your perimeter goes beyond pure France:

For groups with both a French holding and OHADA subsidiaries, CassKai and Pennylane can even coexist during a transition: Pennylane on the historical French holding, CassKai on the new OHADA entities and group consolidation.

Migration Guide

Migrating from Pennylane to CassKai is typically triggered by an OHADA dimension appearing in your business (subsidiary creation, acquisition, expansion). Here are the steps:

  1. Export your Pennylane data: general ledger, journal entries, issued and received invoices, chart of accounts, third parties, fixed assets. Pennylane allows these exports in CSV/Excel.
  2. Choose the strategy: either full migration (everything on CassKai), or coexistence (Pennylane on the French holding, CassKai on OHADA entities and consolidation).
  3. Import into CassKai: the import wizard automatically maps to the chart of accounts of your choice (PCG, SYSCOHADA, etc.). Validate account mappings.
  4. Restate opening balances at the cut-off date.
  5. Create OHADA entities in CassKai with the right SYSCOHADA chart of accounts and country parameters (VAT, IS, local currency XOF or XAF, fiscal calendar).
  6. Enable group consolidation at the holding level with built-in multi-standard mapping.
  7. Configure UEMOA normalised invoicing for the relevant countries (FNE, MECeF, SECeF) — CassKai certification in progress with DGIs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Pennylane really do multi-currency and multi-company?

Yes. According to their public documentation, Pennylane supports multi-currency invoicing with automatic FX rate retrieval, automatically handles FX gains/losses on PCG accounts 656/756, and allows multi-company on a single account with a consolidated dashboard. It is a far more complete product on these dimensions than is often credited. The real question is not "does Pennylane do multi-currency" — it is "does Pennylane do native SYSCOHADA". And the answer is no, because that is not its target use case.

So what is the real difference between Pennylane and CassKai?

The real difference is the geographic and standards perimeter. Pennylane is anchored in French PCG and the French ecosystem. CassKai is natively multi-standard (PCG, SYSCOHADA, IFRS, SCF) and multi-country (France, 17 OHADA countries, Algeria, and more). For a France-only SME, Pennylane is probably the better choice. For a group with a French holding and OHADA subsidiaries, CassKai is built for that exact case, with built-in XOF/EUR parity, multi-standard mapping and native consolidation.

I have a French SAS and just opened a SARL in Cote d'Ivoire. How does CassKai handle this?

You create two companies in the same CassKai account: the French SAS with PCG and French taxation, the Ivorian SARL with SYSCOHADA, 18% VAT, 25% IS and the FNE invoicing format. You switch between them in one click. At close, you automatically generate the FEC for France and the DSF for Cote d'Ivoire. At the holding level, you enable consolidation and CassKai restates the Ivorian SARL in PCG (or IFRS) to produce consolidated accounts. The XOF/EUR parity is handled automatically.

What happens to my Pennylane data if I migrate?

You keep everything. Pennylane allows full export of your accounting data (general ledger, entries, invoices, chart of accounts, third parties) in CSV/Excel. CassKai has an import wizard that automatically maps to the target chart of accounts. You can also keep Pennylane on the historical French entity during a transition and start CassKai on the new OHADA entities — that's a common setup.

Is CassKai as mature as Pennylane on pure French PCG?

Pennylane has several years of lead in the pure French market and benefits from deep integration with the French ecosystem (URSSAF, DSN, French banks, partner firms). CassKai produces the FEC, the French tax return and is ready for the 2026/2027 e-invoicing reform (PPF, Factur-X, UBL, CII). If your activity is 100% France and you want to leverage a maxed-out French ecosystem, Pennylane is the natural option. If you want the same on France AND native SYSCOHADA on OHADA in the same tool, CassKai is built for that.

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