FILING AND CONSULTING ANNUAL ACCOUNTS IN BELGIUM Dirk Tuymans - National Bank of Belgium
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Filing of annual accounts before 2004 – very high degree of standardisation: 98% of all enterprises use a standard model – several software vendors offering offline software for drawing up annual accounts – low filing charges for annual accounts on diskette (as opposed to annual accounts on paper) – modernisation of the Belgian Companies Register in 2003 => strong incentives to start up a project to file annual accounts via the Internet
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM January 2004 – enterprises started to file annual accounts over the Internet – serious limitations: only during office hours only digital certificates issued by the NBB only structured data files in the form of a text file (specific NBB format) only bank cards accepted as payment method – in close cooperation with accounting institutes and software vendors legislator and federal government
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Phase 1: Introduction Internet = max. 15%
FILING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION By June 2006: – extension of opening hours – use of additional digital certificates, already used for other e-government applications the authentication certificate found on the electronic identity card of Belgian citizens a qualified certificate from three commercial certificate authorities – introduction of new methods of payment bank transfer credit card
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Phase 2: Growth Internet = max. 30%
FILING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION "Turning point" April 2007: – abolition of filing on diskette – introduction of the XBRL format for enterprises 300,000 entities involved free online software "Sofista" for drawing up annual accounts real administrative simplification for enterprises: net savings of 17.3m EUR (23% of all filing charges) in 2008 – introduction of the PDF format for enterprises and NPOs, as provided for in the First EU Directive
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Phase 3: Maturity Internet = min. 85%
FILING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION April 2008: – open 24/7/365 (except on Sunday mornings - maintenance) – additional use of the certificate on the EID for 760,000 foreigners residing in Belgium – introduction of the XBRL format for NPOs 7,000 entities involved extension of the free online software "Sofista" real administrative simplification for NPOs: net savings of 0.5m EUR (45% of all filing charges) in 2008
FILING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION March 2009: – limitation of filing on paper to enterprises with a turnover of < 500,000 EUR, NPOs and foreign companies, as provided for in the First EU Company Law Directive
FILING OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM At present Internet = 96.8% (92.8% XBRL and 4.0% PDF) Paper = 3.2%
CONSULTING ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Online consultation started in November 2001 – 24/7/365 Limitations: – access restricted to registered clients (login + password) – subscription fee – only current calendar year + last 3 calendar years – only in the form of a PDF file
CONSULTING ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Phase 1: Introduction Internet = max. 30,000 downloads
CONSULTING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION As from February 2008: – no access restrictions – free of charge – current calendar year + last 5 calendar years – note: 2/3 of the downloaded annual accounts concern SMEs (also during the financial crisis - end of 2008) – > Central Balance Sheet Office > Consulting annual accounts > Application
CONSULTING ANNUAL ACCOUNTS VIA THE INTERNET IN BELGIUM Phase 2: Growth Internet = max. 300,000 downloads/month
CONSULTING VIA THE INTERNET: CBSO IN MOTION Future (end of 2009): – all annual accounts filed in the form of an XBRL file will be available in this format in the same online application (free of charge) – note: all XBRL files are already available via Webservices (paying application); target group: major data vendors