How do I switch to other annual accounts software?

The short answer

With a complete handover file and a reconciliation to the last closed year. Migrate accounting policies, corrections and comparative figures too.

Legal basis: art. 2:10, 2:363 and 2:384 DCC

Which old files do you take along?

Switching starts with securing the old file. Download the final reports, source files, correcting entries and relevant resolutions before access ends. Do not copy only the balance sheet amounts. The support for an estimate or a chosen accounting policy cannot be retrieved automatically in the new program.

Make an overview of the last final position per legal entity and financial year. Add whether annual accounts were only prepared, already adopted or also filed. Keep the receipt separate from the report. A draft at the top of the old file list is not necessarily the last valid version. Check the closing balance of every balance sheet account against the opening balance in the bookkeeping package. Look especially at appropriation of result, current accounts, depreciation and tax corrections. A migration difference often arises because one export was made before and the other after the last year-end entry. Resolve that difference first.

How does the new opening balance reconcile?

Then translate the old chart of accounts to the headings of the new package. An identical account number does not mean the same reporting line is used. For every deviating mapping, explain why you chose it. Art. 2:363 DCC is relevant when classification and comparative information change. Switching software is not in itself a substantive reason to change valuation policies. If the new default setting proposes a different depreciation method or valuation of participations, assess that choice separately. Do not copy a setting without taking the previous annual accounts and the underlying policy into account. Keep both mapping tables in the migration file.

Check the handover with a trial report for an already closed year. Compare the figures at line item level and investigate differences before you open the new financial year. Also check text fields, rounding, currency and the length of the reporting year. A new package can present the same data differently without the result changing. That calls for an explanation, not automatically for a counter-entry. Do not remove differences by overwriting amounts directly in the output. Have a second person review the main reconciliations if the file is large or unclear. That makes hidden assumptions visible sooner.

How do you check the migration?

Agree with your adviser who makes any corrections to old years and in which system that happens. Keep the old archive readable for as long as you must retain the underlying information; art. 2:10 DCC remains relevant after a switch. You do not necessarily have to keep two active production licences, but you must arrange independent access to the necessary records. Finish the transition with a short note on the exports used, deviations and approved opening positions. With that note the next bookkeeper can understand why the new file starts in a certain way. That prevents the same difference from being investigated again at the next year-end.

Sources

• Dutch Tax Administration: setting up records
• KVK: what do the annual accounts consist of?

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