Small company: accounting obligations

What is the definition of a small company?

A company is labelled as ‘small’ insofar as it exceeds one at most of the following criteria:

• An annual workforce average of 50 full-time employees.
• An annual turnover of 9,000,000 euros (excl. VAT)
• A balance sheet total of 4,500,000 euros

Good to know: if your company exceeds the criteria once, it remains ‘small’. Only when that happens two consecutive financial years will your company move up to the ‘large’ category.

What are your accounting obligations?

As a small company, you maintain complete accounts and prepare your annual accounts according to the abbreviated model. In addition, you also keep an annual inventory, where stocks, assets, debts and receivables are described. However, you are not required to draw up or submit an annual report, and the appointment of a statutory auditor is not necessary.

Good to know: a small company may prepare annual accounts according to the full model if it so wishes. This provides you with more accurate insights into your company’s past performance while showing you which actions to take to make the next year even better.