Financial fixed assets

What do financial fixed assets mean?

Lasting financial interests such as participating interests, long-term receivables and securities held as an investment.

Financial fixed assets are interests or receivables held on a lasting basis. A trade receivable with a short term belongs to current assets. Measurement of participating interests has its own rules and can give rise to a statutory reserve.

How does it work?

Article 2:367 DCC lists six items: participating interests in group companies, other participating interests, receivables from group companies, receivables from companies with which a participating interest relationship exists, other securities and other receivables, with loans to shareholders stated separately. What binds them is the intention to hold them on a lasting basis (art. 2:364(1) DCC). A deposit with the landlord, a loan to the subsidiary with a term of five years and a 30% interest in a supplier belong here; a savings account and a trade receivable do not.

Measurement differs per type. Participating interests with significant influence are measured at net asset value (art. 2:389 DCC). Loans and other receivables are measured at amortised cost (RJ 222). If value declines, you may always write down financial fixed assets, even if the decline is not lasting; for other fixed assets that only arises when the decline is expected to be lasting (art. 2:387(3) DCC).

Example

A holding BV has at the end of 2025: a 100% participating interest in its operating company with a net asset value of € 420.000; a loan to that operating company of € 150.000, with € 30.000 repayment per year; a deposit of € 9.000; and a loan of € 50.000 to a friendly entrepreneur, who has not repaid since the summer and is expected to repay € 20.000. It writes that last loan down by € 30.000. Financial fixed assets: 420.000 + 150.000 + 9.000 + 20.000 = € 599.000.

In the annual accounts

Balance sheet under fixed assets; notes on term and related parties where required.

Difference from securities under current assets

The same share can appear in two places. If the company holds it to be lastingly connected with it or as a long-term investment, it is a financial fixed asset. If it parks temporary surplus cash in it and can sell it at any time, it belongs to securities under current assets (art. 2:364(3) DCC). The choice carries through to the current ratio: only current securities count in it.

Common mistakes

• Showing a short trade receivable as a long-term investment
• Not assessing impairment

What to watch for

• Request the agreement and repayment schedule for each loan; a loan without a contract or repayment is a signal for a write-down.
• State loans and advances to shareholders separately (art. 2:367(f) DCC).
• Medium-sized and large entities give a movement schedule per item (art. 2:368(1) DCC). A small entity shows financial fixed assets as one amount and a micro entity only the sum of all fixed assets.

Legal basis and source

art. 2:367 DCC

• Dutch Civil Code Book 2, article 367

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