On 19 May, the Danish Parliament passed a new Bookkeeping Act. The central part of the new act is that it introduces stricter requirements for the digitalisation and automation of bookkeeping. The purpose of the new act is to minimise errors in companies' accounts.
Who is covered by the new Bookkeeping Act?
All companies with a duty to keep accounts under the Danish Financial Statements Act will be covered by the new act.
The act will also apply to sole proprietorships etc. if their net turnover is more than DKK 300,000 a year for more than 2 years.
When does the act come into force?
The new Bookkeeping Act will be implemented in several phases.
The first part of the new act is expected to come into force on 1 July 2022, and the actual requirement to have a digital bookkeeping system will only finally come into force on 1 January 2024 for companies in reporting classes B, C and D, and from 1 January 2026 for companies in reporting class A.
The most important changes and key requirements. There are big changes you need to be aware of.
The biggest change is that it becomes a legal requirement to use an approved digital bookkeeping system. As mentioned earlier, this requirement applies from 1 January 2024 at the earliest, but as implementing a new bookkeeping system is a big task, it can be a good idea to start looking at the market in good time.
Besides the requirement to digitalise the bookkeeping system itself, there will also be a requirement for digital storage of the accounting records, including digital storage of backups. You must keep the records for at least 5 years.
All invoices must go through a receiving portal, in the same way as you send an invoice to the public sector today.
You must date entries and refer to vouchers. You must also make sure backups are made regularly. If entries are changed, this must also be shown in the system.
If you don't submit the annual report to Erhvervsstyrelsen after you've closed the first financial year, Erhvervsstyrelsen can carry out a risk-based bookkeeping inspection.
Erhvervsstyrelsen also gets new powers of inspection and can request documentation and issue fines and orders.
The detailed requirements will only be published on 1 January 2023. After this date, providers of digital bookkeeping systems can adapt their system so it meets all the requirements and apply to the agency to be approved.
