Running accounts
You must keep a running account of the company's business transactions, so you should not delay entering business transactions in your accounts.
Time of registration
Cash inflows and outflows should normally be recorded no later than the next working day and other transactions as soon as possible.
Cash inflows and outflows
Cash inflows and outflows should normally be recorded no later than the next working day. Cash inflows and outflows does not only mean payments with coins and bills, but also payments with the purchaser's credit card or a money-order, as well as any other means of payment which may be converted to cash.
Cash inflows and outflows made through bank/postal giro services or with your own credit card is not included in the cash flow concept.
Other transactions
Other transactions should be recorded as soon as possible, this means as soon as you have enough information about the affair, e.g. when you receive an invoice.
According to regulations you may postpone recording of an entry posting if certain postulations are fulfilled.
The invoice method (accrual accounting)
Under the invoice method, outgoing and incoming invoices are recorded as income or expense on the date on which they are issued or received, i.e. the invoice date or arrival date. At this stage, the invoice is accounted for as a trade receivable or a trade payable.
When trade receivables or payables are settled, these transactions are also entered in the accounts. This method allows you to obtain an accurate picture of the company's financial position by looking at the accounts.
The cash method – invoices accounted for when paid
The cash method may be used by companies which have an annual net turnover not exceeding SEK 3 million.
Under the cash method, you do not account for the year's outgoing and incoming invoices until they are paid. Outstanding invoices are entered in the accounts at the end of the financial year (balance sheet date).
Compared with the invoice method, the cash method means you have one thing less to think about, as the invoices are never seen as trade receivables or payables in the accounts.
However, the method gives a less accurate picture of the company's financial position at any given time during the year. The figures do not give a true and fair picture until the annual accounts are prepared.
Accounting for VAT when you use the cash method
If you use the cash method, you must report VAT to the Swedish Tax Agency according to the final accounts method (bokslutsmetoden). This means that accounting and payment of VAT only takes place when the invoice has been paid. It is only at the end of the year that VAT on unpaid invoices must be reported.