RJ 140 changes in accounting policy: when is it allowed and how do you process it?

The short answer

A change in accounting policy is a different principle or rule than last year, for example from cost to current value. This is allowed only for justified reasons (art. 2:384(6) DCC). You apply it retrospectively: the cumulative effect goes directly into equity at the start of the year and the comparative figures are restated.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

What the law says

Only for justified reasons may the valuation of assets and liabilities and the determination of the result be based on principles other than those applied in the preceding financial year. The reason for the change is explained in the notes. Insight is also given into its significance for equity and result, on the basis of adjusted figures for the financial year or for the preceding financial year.

The same applies to the layout of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account: depart from last year only for justified reasons, with an explanation (art. 2:363(4) DCC). RJ 140 determines what a change in accounting policy is, when it is required or allowed and how you process it. For micro and small entities it is in RJk A3.1.

What is and is not a change in accounting policy

The policy covers the principles for valuation and determination of the result, the rules for direct movements in equity, the consolidation principles, the classification and presentation, and the set-up of the cash flow statement (RJ 140.0; RJk A3.101).

The correction of an error is not a change in accounting policy either; RJ 150 applies to that. If there is doubt whether something is a change in policy or in estimate, the RJ treats it as a change in estimate with an appropriate explanation (RJ 145.102).

When it is required and when it is allowed

Once you have chosen a policy, you keep to it (RJ 140.203; RJk A3.104). You must change if the law or the Guidelines require it, or if the change significantly improves insight (RJ 140.206; RJk A3.105). You may change for a justified reason within the meaning of art. 2:384(6) DCC. The RJ gives examples: a preference or new alternative in law or the Guidelines, what is common in the industry, alignment with international views, the policy of the parent company, or a materially different nature of the activities (RJ 140.207). A better-looking result is not a reason.

How you process a change in accounting policy

1. Recalculate equity at the end of the previous financial year as if the new policy had always applied.
2. Book the difference, after tax, directly in equity at the start of the current financial year: in other reserves, unless the law prescribes another reserve, such as the revaluation reserve (RJ 140.208; RJk A3.106).
3. Restate the comparative figures. The part of the effect that is older than the previous financial year you show as a movement in the opening equity of that previous year, not in the previous result (RJ 140.211; RJk A3.111).
4. Apply the new policy to everything that happened in the year of the change, even if the decision was taken later in the year (RJ 140.210).

Restating the comparative figures does not change last year's adopted annual accounts; it only serves comparability. If the cumulative effect cannot reasonably be determined, you take the carrying amounts at the start of the year as the starting point (RJ 140.209). If the comparative figures cannot practicably be restated, you say why and what the adjustment would have been.

Case: investment property at current value at Vastgoed Rietveld BV

Vastgoed Rietveld BV (fictitious, small) rents out an office building that it bought on 1 January 2020 for € 1.400.000. It depreciated it over 40 years: € 35.000 a year. In 2027 a group that values all its property at current value acquires all the shares. Rietveld switches to current value too, with changes in value through the profit and loss account and a revaluation reserve, as RJk B2.206 allows. The justified reason: the policy of the parent company. The tax carrying amount is assumed to equal the old carrying amount; the deferred tax rate is 25,8%.

• In the 2027 annual accounts, € 330.190 is added directly to equity as at 1 January 2027.
• The 2026 comparative figures are recalculated: the depreciation of € 35.000 falls away and the increase in value of € 60.000 is added. The 2026 result rises by € 95.000 before tax, € 70.490 after tax.
• The € 259.700 that relates to earlier years appears in the comparative statement of movements as a movement at 1 January 2026. Check: € 259.700 + € 70.490 = € 330.190.
• Revaluation reserve at 31 December 2026: current value minus acquisition price, € 200.000, less € 51.600 deferred tax: € 148.400 (art. 2:390 DCC). The remaining € 181.790 goes into other reserves. If Rietveld chooses the method in which the acquisition price is reduced by the depreciation that would have been taken at cost, the whole € 330.190 is revaluation reserve (RJk B2.206).

A micro entity could not have taken this step: it may not value investment property at market value (RJk M1.303).

Special transitions

• To tax-based principles. If a micro or small entity chooses tax-based principles, the difference in equity goes directly into equity at the start of the financial year; the comparative figure need not be revised (art. 1 Decree on tax valuation principles).
• To the micro regime. The first year as a micro entity is a change in accounting policy with restated comparatives, but without notes (RJk M1.304).
• From small to medium-sized. If the entity has to change principles as a result, it follows RJ 140 (RJk A3.101).
• Transitional rules in a Guideline. A new Guideline may allow a simplified transition, such as prospective application for the maintenance provision from 2026 (RJ 212.810) or leaving comparative figures untouched for share-based payments (RJ 275.603). See Changes to the RJ in 2026 and 2027.
• To a liquidation basis. That is not a change in accounting policy: you process the transition prospectively and do not restate the comparative figures (RJ 170.205).

What each class explains in the notes

How it works in Jaarrekening.io

The Jaarrekening.io questionnaire asks whether the principles for valuation and determination of the result have changed. The explanation with that question helps you tell the difference from a change in estimate and lists the reasons that count as justified. Your answers on nature, reason and effect go into the notes; you carry through the recalculation of opening equity and comparative figures yourself in the figures.

Sources

• Art. 2:384 DCC: accounting policies and change in policy (para. 6) (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Art. 2:363 DCC: classification and comparative figures (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Art. 2:390 DCC: revaluation reserve (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Decree on tax valuation principles, art. 1: transition to tax-based principles (wetten.overheid.nl, in Dutch)
• Financial Reporting Council (Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving): Guidelines (rjnet.nl)

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