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A swift act of parliament served as the final formality.
From July 1, accounting material, such as receipts and invoices, no longer need to be retained in paper form if the documentation is digitized.
- With this change in the law, a decisive step forward is taken, says Christofer Wiechert, Bid Manager at Inexchange.
The old-fashioned requirement that receipts, invoices and similar documents must be kept in paper form has long lived on overtime. The process took seven years from the time the Ministry of Justice received a petition on the matter until Parliament made a final decision. The wait for implementation has been insanely long.
But now the amendment has been approved and will come into force in one month (July 1).
Simplifying everyday life
There is no doubt that the update of the Accounting Act is long-awaited. Paper filing has felt cumbersome and unnecessary because we are in an era where documents of this type are much easier to store as data.
Christofer Wiechert, Bid Manager at Inexchange, even argues that the change will give a much-needed boost to digital development.
- To put it more solemnly, we are entering a new era of digital storage. It's about leveraging digital innovation to simplify everyday life for our customers, to simply create an immediate and measurable improvement in how we manage information," says Christofer.
Fulfilled since long
In concrete terms, the abolished requirement means that paper invoices can be destroyed and recycled as soon as they have been converted to a digital copy, provided that the transfer is carried out with maintained integrity and security. In short, the digital copy becomes the official accounting record.
In the case of InExchange, this procedure is something that has been fulfilled for a long time. It was done long before the merger with Scancloud. The difference since the merger is that the scanning and interpretation procedure is included in the product line and no longer rests on a third-party solution.
- But to meet the needs of our customers, we will offer a period where the physical document is preserved for any complaints, before it is finally preserved only in digital form, Christofer Wiechert points out.
E-invoice of course
In a slightly longer time perspective, however, the use of paper will disappear forever. What the Accounting Act has advocated and what will no longer be relevant after July 1, that is, that physical documents must be retained for at least three years even though the information has been saved digitally, has been heavily criticized for years.
Of course, it will be nice to get rid of that scourge.
Even for a fintech company like Inexchange, the removal of the preservation requirement in paper form is a welcome measure. Ever since Inexchange started in 2008, the company has had e-invoicing as its mission and from July 1, further arguments are created for companies, authorities and organizations to digitize their invoice management.
"By embracing the decided change, we strengthen our commitment to improving efficiency and protecting the environment while ensuring the highest possible standard of service for our customers," concludes Christofer Wiechert.
Photo: Press photo, Swedish Parliament
