Glossary
Glossary: Danish accounting terms explained
Accounting has a language of its own, and Danish accounting has its own words for it. Here are the terms you meet when you book, file VAT returns and prepare an annual report, each explained with a definition, an example and a pointer to where it is used in practice.
Updated 21 October 2026
How to use the glossary
Every entry opens with a one-sentence definition, explains the term with an example in kroner and shows how it looks in Veneti. If you are new to bookkeeping, start with Bookkeeping for beginners and the Guide to the chart of accounts, and see under Features how Veneti does the work from bank line to annual report.
All terms from A to Z
- Account balanceAn account balance, saldo in Danish, is an account's position at a point in time, that is the sum of every entry on the account up to then.
- AccrualAn accrual, periodisering in Danish, places income and costs in the period they belong to, regardless of when the invoice is sent or the payment falls.
- Acquisition VATAcquisition VAT, erhvervelsesmoms in Danish, is the Danish VAT a company calculates and reports itself on goods it buys from VAT-registered suppliers in other EU countries when the invoice is without VAT.
- Annual reportThe annual report, årsrapport in Danish, is the official accounts for a financial year that companies file with the Danish Business Authority, holding at least an income statement, a balance sheet and notes.
- ApSAn ApS (anpartsselskab) is a Danish limited company in which the owners are liable only for the capital they have contributed, and which must keep books and file an annual report with the Danish Business Authority.
- Balance sheetThe balance sheet, balance in Danish, is the statement of the company's assets and its equity and liabilities on a given date, where the assets always equal equity plus liabilities.
- Cash flow statementThe cash flow statement, pengestrømsopgørelse in Danish, shows the period's receipts and payments split into operating, investing and financing activities and explains the change in cash.
- Chart of accountsThe chart of accounts is the complete list of the accounts a set of books is posted to, divided into the income statement's and the balance sheet's accounts.
- Credit noteA credit note, kreditnota in Danish, is a document that cancels or reduces an earlier invoice, with the same details and the opposite sign.
- CreditorA creditor is a supplier or other party the company owes money, typically for a received invoice that has not yet been paid.
- CVR numberA CVR number is the eight-digit number a company receives in the Danish Central Business Register (Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister), which identifies it to authorities, customers and suppliers.
- DebtorA debtor is a customer who owes the company money, typically for an invoice that has not yet been paid.
- DepreciationDepreciation, afskrivning in Danish, is the part of a fixed asset's cost that is expensed each period, so the cost is spread over the asset's lifetime.
- E-invoiceAn e-invoice, e-faktura in Danish, is an invoice in a structured, machine-readable format sent directly between the sender's and the receiver's systems through a network such as Peppol or NemHandel.
- Financial yearA financial year, regnskabsår in Danish, is the period, normally twelve months, that the income statement is made up for and that the annual report and the year's VAT periods belong to.
- Fixed assetA fixed asset, anlægsaktiv in Danish, is an asset the company acquires to use in its operations over several years, and which is therefore capitalised in the balance sheet and depreciated over its lifetime rather than expensed at once.
- General journal entryA general journal entry, finansbilag in Danish, is a manual entry with an account, an offset account and an amount that you write in the journal yourself, with no invoice behind it.
- Holding companyA holding company, holdingselskab in Danish, is a company, typically an ApS, whose main purpose is to own shares in one or more other companies, the operating companies.
- Income statementThe income statement, resultatopgørelse in Danish, is the statement that shows a period's revenue and costs and thereby the period's result, a profit or a loss.
- JournalThe journal, kasseklade in Danish, is the editable draft where entries are collected, checked and corrected before they are booked and locked.
- NemHandelNemHandel is the Danish Business Authority's infrastructure for exchanging e-invoices and other business documents between companies and the public sector.
- Open bankingOpen banking is the banks' open access through which a customer, with their own login, can allow another system to read an account's transactions and balance.
- Opening and closing balanceThe opening balance (primo) is an account's balance at the beginning of a period, and the closing balance (ultimo) is its balance at the end of the period.
- Output VAT and input VATOutput VAT (salgsmoms) is the VAT the company adds to its sales and owes the Danish Tax Agency; input VAT (købsmoms) is the VAT the company has paid on its purchases and can deduct.
- PeppolPeppol is an international network of access points that exchange e-invoices and other documents in a common format between companies and authorities.
- ReconciliationReconciliation is the check that two independent records of the same thing agree, for example the bank statement and the bank account in the books.
- Regnskab BasisRegnskab Basis is the Danish Business Authority's digital service on virk.dk where small companies prepare and file their annual report from an accounts file in the standard chart of accounts' format.
- ReversalA reversal, storno in Danish, is a counter-entry that cancels a booked voucher by booking the same voucher again with the opposite sign.
- Reverse chargeReverse charge, omvendt betalingspligt in Danish, means that the buyer, not the seller, calculates and reports the VAT on a purchase, typically services from suppliers abroad and certain goods traded between Danish companies.
- SAF-TSAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax) is a standardised XML file with the chart of accounts and every entry, in which a set of books can be handed over to authorities or another accounting system.
- SettlementSettlement, udligning in Danish, is matching an invoice and the payment that covers it on the debtor or creditor account, so the invoice is no longer open.
- Sole proprietorshipA sole proprietorship, enkeltmandsvirksomhed in Danish, is a business owned by one person, who is personally liable for its debts and whose profit is taxed as the owner's income.
- The Danish Bookkeeping ActThe Danish Bookkeeping Act, bogføringsloven, is the law that lays down how businesses must book, document and keep their accounting records, including the requirement of digital bookkeeping.
- VAT codeA VAT code is the code on an entry that determines the VAT rate and the field in the VAT return the amount is reported in.
- VoucherA voucher, bilag in Danish, is the documentation behind an entry in the books, such as an invoice, a receipt or a bank transaction.