Terms in pre-accounting and AI bookkeeping.

A

Accounting firm (accountantskantoor)

An accounting firm (accountantskantoor) is an organisation employing accountants with a protected title (RA or AA) that provides services such as compilation, audit, tax advice and business advice.

Accounts payable

Accounts payable (crediteurenadministratie) is the part of the bookkeeping that tracks, per supplier, which purchase invoices have been received, which have been paid and which are still outstanding.

Accounts receivable

Accounts receivable (debiteurenadministratie) is the part of the bookkeeping that tracks, per customer, which sales invoices have been sent, which have been paid and which are still outstanding.

Accruals and deferrals (transitorische posten)

Accruals and deferrals (transitorische posten) are balance sheet items that allocate expenses or income to the period they relate to when payment and consumption fall in different periods.

Administration rule

An administration rule (administratieregel) is a booking agreement that applies to a single administration only, such as a fixed GL account for a particular supplier or an exception specific to that client.

Agentic AI

Agentic AI is artificial intelligence that does not just give answers or proposals but independently carries out multi-step tasks within predefined boundaries, such as booking, requesting information and matching.

AI booking proposal

An AI booking proposal is a draft entry for an invoice or receipt prepared by artificial intelligence, including GL account, VAT code and contact, which you can approve, edit or let process automatically.

Approval (autorisatie)

Approval (autorisatie) is defining who may approve an entry, invoice or payment, so financial actions only become final after sign-off by an authorised person.

Audit log

An audit log is a chronological record of all actions in a system, such as who created, changed or approved an entry and when, so every change is traceable.

Automatic booking

Automatic booking is recording an invoice or receipt in the accounting software without manual intervention, based on recognised data, rules and previous entries.

B

Bank matching

Bank matching is linking bank transactions to the related invoices, entries or open items, so that every payment and receipt in the administration is explained.

Bookkeeping firm (administratiekantoor)

A bookkeeping firm (administratiekantoor) is a service provider that keeps the books for businesses, including processing invoices and bank transactions, VAT returns, payroll and often annual accounts and tax returns.

C

Client portal

A client portal (klantportaal) is a secure online environment in which clients of an accounting or bookkeeping firm deliver documents, answer questions and view their figures.

Client question (vraagpost)

A client question (vraagpost) is an open question to the client about an invoice, receipt or bank transaction with missing information, such as a receipt, explanation or allocation, so the entry can be completed.

Confidence score

A confidence score (zekerheidsscore) is a value indicating how certain an AI system is that a booking proposal or bank match is correct, so you can decide what may run automatically and what needs review.

Confidence threshold

A confidence threshold (zekerheidsdrempel) is the minimum confidence score an AI proposal must reach to be booked or reconciled automatically; proposals below the threshold go to an employee for review.

Cost centre

A cost centre (kostenplaats) is a part of an organisation, such as a department, branch or activity, to which costs and income are allocated to give insight into the result per unit.

Credit note

A credit note (creditnota) is an invoice with a negative amount that fully or partly corrects a previously issued invoice, for example after a return, discount or billing error.

Current account

A current account (rekening-courant) is a general ledger account that tracks mutual receivables and debts between two related parties, such as between a private limited company and its director-major shareholder or between group companies.

D

Data processing agreement (verwerkersovereenkomst)

A data processing agreement (verwerkersovereenkomst, DPA) is a GDPR contract with a party processing personal data on your behalf, setting out what the processor may do with the data and how it secures it.

E

E-invoicing

E-invoicing (e-facturatie) is sending and receiving invoices as a structured digital file, such as UBL, that software can read in directly, instead of as a paper invoice or PDF.

EPC QR code

An EPC QR code is a standardised payment QR code on an invoice with the IBAN, payee name, amount and description, which the payer scans with a phone to make a transfer straight away.

F

Foreign currency

Foreign currency (vreemde valuta) is any currency other than the administration's functional currency, usually the euro in the Netherlands, such as an invoice in US dollars or British pounds.

G

GDPR (AVG)

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), called AVG in Dutch, is the European privacy law governing how organisations may collect, use, store and secure personal data.

General ledger account

A general ledger account (grootboekrekening) is an account in an administration's chart of accounts on which entries of one type are collected, such as rent, revenue, bank or VAT payable.

Global rule

A global rule (globale regel) is a booking agreement that applies to all administrations of a firm, so every client is processed according to the same way of working.

I

IBAN check

An IBAN check is verifying whether the bank account number on an invoice is a valid IBAN and matches the supplier, to prevent errors and payment fraud.

ICP declaration (ICP-opgaaf)

The ICP declaration (ICP-opgaaf, the Dutch EC Sales List) is a filing with the Dutch Tax Administration listing the businesses in other EU countries to which a business supplied goods or reverse-charged services.

iDEAL

iDEAL is a Dutch online payment method in which the payer confirms a payment directly through their own bank, widely used for web shops and paying invoices online.

Input VAT

Input VAT (voorbelasting) is the VAT a business pays on business purchases and expenses, which it may deduct in its VAT return from the VAT it owes, insofar as it uses the purchases for taxable supplies.

Intra-community acquisition

An intra-community acquisition (intracommunautaire verwerving) is a business's purchase of goods transported from another EU country to the Netherlands: the supplier invoices 0% VAT and the buyer declares the Dutch VAT itself.

Invoice approval (fiatteren)

Invoice approval (fiatteren) is the formal approval of a purchase invoice by an authorised person, such as a budget holder or director, before the invoice is finally booked or paid.

Invoice recognition

Invoice recognition (factuurherkenning) is automatically reading and interpreting an invoice so that data such as supplier, invoice number, date, amounts and VAT are available for the entry without retyping.

Invoice requirements

Invoice requirements (factuureisen) are the details the Dutch Tax Administration requires on an invoice, such as name and address of both parties, VAT identification number, invoice number, date, description, amount, VAT rate and VAT amount.

J

Journal

A journal (dagboek) is a part of the bookkeeping in which entries of the same kind are recorded, such as the purchase journal, sales journal, bank journal, cash journal and general journal, before they reach the general ledger accounts.

Journal entry

A journal entry (memoriaalboeking) is a manual entry in the general journal for movements that do not arise from an invoice, bank or cash document, such as depreciation, corrections, transfers and accruals.

M

Month-end close

The month-end close (maandafsluiting) is the fixed process that makes an administration complete and correct at the end of a month, so the figures for that period are reliable for reporting, VAT and advice.

O

OCR (optical character recognition)

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is technology that converts text on a scanned document, PDF or photo into machine-readable text, as the first step in processing data from an invoice or receipt.

One Stop Shop (OSS)

The One Stop Shop (OSS, éénloketsysteem) is a European scheme that lets a business declare and pay foreign VAT on sales to consumers in other EU countries through one quarterly return to the Dutch Tax Administration.

Open items

Open items (openstaande posten) are invoices, credit notes and payments in accounts receivable or payable that have not yet been fully reconciled, and therefore still need to be paid, received or explained.

P

Partial payment

A partial payment (deelbetaling) is a payment that settles only part of an invoice, leaving the remainder open until it is paid or offset.

Payment terms

Payment terms (betalingscondities) are the agreement on when and how an invoice must be paid, such as a 30-day payment period or a discount for payment within a certain period.

PEPPOL

PEPPOL is an international network and set of standards for securely exchanging electronic invoices and other business documents between organisations through connected access points.

Pre-accounting

Pre-accounting is the preparatory bookkeeping work in which invoices, receipts and bank transactions are collected, checked and prepared as entries before they are posted to the accounting software.

Purchase invoice

A purchase invoice (inkoopfactuur) is an invoice a business receives from a supplier for goods or services delivered, booked as an expense or asset with a liability to the creditor.

R

Receipts (bonnen)

Receipts (bonnen) are till receipts and proofs of payment for small purchases such as fuel, parking or lunch, which support the expense entry and the deduction of input VAT.

Reconciliation (afletteren)

Reconciliation (afletteren) is offsetting an open invoice against the related payment in the books, so the item is marked as settled and no longer appears as an open receivable or payable.

Recurring invoice

A recurring invoice (terugkerende factuur) is an invoice sent or received at a fixed interval for the same or a similar amount, such as a monthly subscription, rent or maintenance contract.

Retention obligation

The retention obligation (bewaarplicht) is the legal duty to keep the administration, including invoices, receipts and the general ledger, for 7 years in principle, and data on real estate for 10 years.

Reverse-charge VAT (btw verlegd)

Reverse-charge VAT (btw verlegd) means the customer, not the supplier, declares and pays the VAT; the invoice then shows no VAT amount but the statement 'btw verlegd' (VAT reverse-charged).

RGS (Dutch reference chart of accounts)

The Referentie GrootboekSchema (RGS) is a Dutch standard coding for general ledger accounts that allows financial data from different administrations to be compared, reported and exchanged consistently.

S

Sales invoice

A sales invoice (verkoopfactuur) is an invoice a business sends to a customer for goods or services delivered, recorded in the books as revenue with a receivable from the debtor.

Scan and recognise

Scan and recognise (scan en herken) is the approach in which an invoice or receipt is scanned or photographed and software reads the data automatically, so it no longer has to be retyped.

Small business scheme (KOR)

The small business scheme (kleineondernemersregeling, KOR) is a VAT exemption for businesses established in the Netherlands with turnover of up to 20,000 euros per calendar year: they charge no VAT, file no VAT return and deduct no VAT.

Suspense account

A suspense account (tussenrekening) is a temporary general ledger account for amounts that cannot yet be classified definitively, such as a payment without an invoice, with the intention of clearing the account later.

T

Three-way matching

Three-way matching (driewegmatching) is a check that compares a purchase invoice with the purchase order and the goods receipt, so that payment is only made for what was ordered and actually delivered.

Touchless processing

Touchless processing (touchless verwerking) is the fully automatic processing of a document, from arrival to final entry, without an employee having to open or review it.

U

UBL invoice

A UBL invoice is an electronic invoice in the standardised XML format Universal Business Language, which software can read in directly without having to recognise the invoice first.

V

VAT code

A VAT code (btw-code) is a code in the accounting software that determines which VAT rate or treatment applies to an entry line, and in which box of the VAT return the amount is reported.

VAT correction (suppletie)

A VAT correction (btw-suppletie) is an amendment to a previously filed Dutch VAT return, which is mandatory when too much or too little VAT was declared and the difference exceeds 1,000 euros.

VAT identification number

The VAT identification number (btw-identificatienummer, btw-id) is the number a business uses to identify itself for VAT to customers and suppliers, for example on invoices; a Dutch VAT ID has the format NL + 9 digits + B + 2 digits.

VAT return (btw-aangifte)

The VAT return (btw-aangifte or aangifte omzetbelasting) is the periodic filing with the Dutch Tax Administration in which a business reports the VAT due on its sales and the deductible input VAT.

VAT-exempt administration

A VAT-exempt administration (vrijgestelde administratie) is the bookkeeping of a business that provides VAT-exempt services, such as healthcare or education, and therefore charges no VAT and may not deduct VAT on purchases.

ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age)

ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age) is a European package of VAT rules that, among other things, introduces mandatory e-invoicing and digital reporting for cross-border B2B transactions from 1 July 2030.

VIES check

A VIES check is verifying a VAT identification number in the European Commission's VIES system to establish whether a business in an EU country has a valid VAT number.

Y

Year-end close

The year-end close (jaarafsluiting) is finalising the administration for a financial year, with corrections, depreciation and balance sheet items, as the basis for the annual accounts and the income or corporate tax return.