Is the RJ mandatory? The legal status of the Dutch Guidelines

The short answer

No, the Guidelines are not law. Art. 2:362(1) DCC does require annual accounts prepared according to standards regarded as acceptable in society, and the RJ serves as the authoritative interpretation of this. The court and the accountant test against it. You only depart from a firm statement with good grounds.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

What the law requires

Title 9 Book 2 DCC contains the rules that every legal entity under that title must follow. On many points the law is open: it asks for a true and fair view according to standards acceptable in society (art. 2:362(1) DCC) and does not say how to build up a maintenance provision or book a lease. The Guidelines provide that interpretation. The law itself does not mention the RJ anywhere, but it does require you to state which standards you applied:

The legal entity states in the notes according to which standards the annual accounts have been prepared.

Whoever writes in the notes that the annual accounts have been prepared according to Title 9 and the Guidelines must then also follow those Guidelines. If a Guideline conflicts with the law, the law prevails. Conversely, only the law itself can permit a departure from a statutory requirement, namely if the true and fair view requires it:

If providing the view referred to in paragraph 1 requires it, the legal entity provides in the annual accounts information in addition to what is required by the special provisions of and pursuant to this title. If this is necessary to provide that view, the legal entity departs from those provisions; the reason for this departure is set out in the notes, where necessary stating its effect on capital and result.

How much weight the Guidelines carry

The RJ itself says that its statements do not have the binding force of law and that the court decides in a concrete dispute what is acceptable. In annual accounts cases that is the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. Any interested party, such as a shareholder, employee or creditor, and the advocate general can ask it to order the legal entity to arrange the annual accounts differently (art. 2:447 and 2:448 DCC). That request must be filed within two months of adoption (art. 2:449(1) DCC). The Enterprise Chamber can annul the adoption resolution and give instructions, also for future annual accounts (art. 2:451 DCC).

In such an assessment the Guidelines are the reference point; the court is not bound by them. Conversely, the RJ incorporates rulings of the Enterprise Chamber and the Supreme Court of general import into the Guidelines (RJ 100.303). Whoever follows the Guidelines therefore generally stands strong; whoever departs without explanation must make it plausible themselves that the annual accounts nevertheless give the required view.

Firm statements, recommendations and drafts

Not every sentence in the RJ volume carries the same weight. The RJ distinguishes on the basis of layout and wording (RJ 100.405 to 100.408):

The core of the firm statement is in RJ 100.407: the RJ expects that "departures are made only if there are good grounds for them". For small entities it is different, because the EU Accounting Directive prohibits member states from requiring more notes from small undertakings than the directive itself. The RJk therefore separates notes required by law from other information, which the legal entity may only "consider". That phrase means: voluntary.

Who follows which Guidelines

Departing: how to go about it

1. Establish what kind of text it is. Is it a statement in bold, a recommendation, or does the passage repeat a statutory article?
2. Record why the departure improves the view. That the departure is simpler or cheaper, or the result more favourable, is not a good ground.
3. Describe the departure in the notes: what you do differently, why, and what the effect is on capital and result. Because the notes must state which standards you follow, a deliberate departure should be visible there.
4. Discuss it beforehand with your accountant. In an audit the accountant assesses whether the annual accounts give the required view (art. 2:393(5)(c) DCC); a material departure without good ground can lead to a modified opinion.

Case: three choices at Transportbedrijf Brink BV

Transportbedrijf Brink BV (fictitious) is medium-sized: balance sheet total € 11 mln, turnover € 31 mln, 140 employees. When preparing the 2026 annual accounts, three proposals are on the table.

1. A provision for own risk. Brink does not insure its 14 trucks against own damage and wants to set aside € 40.000 a year from 2026 in an "own risk" provision. The RJ does not permit such a provision (firm statement in RJ 252.422): at the balance sheet date there is no damage and so no obligation. A smoother result is not a good ground. Brink books damage as an expense when it arises; the uninsured risk it can describe in the management report.
2. Balance sheet after appropriation of result. The board proposes € 150.000 dividend and wants to show that amount in the balance sheet as a liability already. RJ 160.208 prefers a balance sheet before appropriation of result, but permits the balance sheet after appropriation. This is a recommendation: Brink may depart, states at the top of the balance sheet that the appropriation of result has been processed (art. 2:362(2) DCC) and keeps to that choice in the following years.
3. Small sister company. Brink Verhuur BV is small and follows the RJk. It omits the description of its activities from the notes. That is allowed: RJk B18.104 mentions that description as something the legal entity may consider. Name, legal form, registered office and KVK number (art. 2:380b DCC) must be in it.

Outcome: one of the three proposals drops out. The result before tax for 2026 is € 40.000 higher than with the provision.

Common mistakes

• Thinking that "not law" means "non-binding". An accountant and the Enterprise Chamber test against the Guidelines.
• Treating a recommendation as an obligation, or a firm statement as advice.
• Writing "according to the Guidelines" in the notes and tacitly departing from them.
• As a small legal entity, including everything the RJk only offers for consideration. That is allowed, but not required.
• Using an old edition. The edition follows the start date of the financial year; see the hub.

Sources

• Art. 2:362 DCC: true and fair view requirement, supplementing and departing, standards applied (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Art. 2:447 DCC: annual accounts procedure before the Enterprise Chamber (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Art. 2:449 DCC: two-month period for the request (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Art. 2:393 DCC: content of the auditor's report (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving: Guidelines and RJ-Uitingen (rjnet.nl, in Dutch)
• Ten geleide to the RJ volume, 2027 annual edition (PDF, rjnet.nl, in Dutch)

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