Accounting and accounting rules in Belgium

Accounting Rules

Tax Year

For companies: the accounting year or any 12-month period

For individuals: the calendar year

Accounting Standards

The annual accounts of Belgian companies must be drafted in accordance with Belgian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is obligatory for consolidated accounts of listed companies and optional for consolidated accounts of others, but may not be used for the annual accounts.

Accounting Regulation Bodies

Commission of the Countable Standards in Belgium

Accounting Reports

Belgian accounting principles are promulgated by the Law of 17 July 1975, royal decrees and the recommendations of the Accounting Principles Committee. For more information, see the following document.

Publication Requirements

All Belgian companies are required to present an annual account (including the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the appendix) to their shareholders.

Large companies must publish full annual financial statements (balance sheet, income statement and notes to the financial statement). Quarterly publication of financial information is compulsory for listed companies. Small companies may publish accounts in a simplified form.

Foreign companies with a branch in Belgium are required each year to deposit with the NBB a copy of the annual financial statements of the foreign company and consolidated financial statements (together with a social balance sheet of the Belgian permanent establishment (PE), if it has employees in Belgium).

In principle, the financial statements must be audited by a statutory auditor. An exception to this obligation exists for certain types of company.

Professional Accountancy Bodies

Corporate Auditors , Corporate Auditors website

Certification and Auditing

Companies are required to seek a statutory auditor to conduct an annual audit of the financial health of their organisation.

Examples of external auditors include Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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