Legal and Data Protection Officer
At Yokoy, we understand the importance of compliance when it comes to financial management and data security, integrity and availability. One area that our team frequently receives inquiries about is Yokoy’s GoBD compliance.
We are proud to assure our clients that we fully comply with GoBD regulations, and in this article, we aim to shed light on the details surrounding this aspect.
By delving into the intricacies of GoBD and its significance in financial operations, we hope to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Yokoy meets the highest standards of data integrity and compliance.
What is GoBD?
The abbreviation GoBD stands for principles for the proper keeping and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form as well as for data access.
In simple terms, GoBD is a set of rules and regulations that businesses in Germany must follow when keeping their financial records in digital form. The aim of GoBD is to ensure that companies maintain accurate and complete records of their financial transactions, and that these records are stored and managed in a secure and organized manner.
These principles were first issued by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) in November 2014, and then revised in November 2019 to reflect technical developments in the field of spend management. The revised document can be found here.
This post highlights some key points in how Yokoy aligns with and fully leverages GoBD principles. The margin numbers mentioned below point out to specific relevant paragraphs in the revised GoBD document.
Recording of expenses by smartphones
The electronic image capturing of commercial letters and accounting documents received in paper form is expressly allowed (see GoBD margin no. 130), if these correspond to the original image.
Smartphone cameras as well as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) methods are explicitly accepted, which means that when you submit your expenses via the Yokoy mobile app you remain GoBD-compliant.
Recognition of expenses abroad
Section 146 (2) of the German Tax Code does not preclude pictorial recording by mobile devices abroad if the receipts were created or received abroad and are recorded directly there (see GoBD margin no. 130).
This means that you can ease the reimbursement of your business trip expenses with Yokoy and remain GoBD-compliant. Just remember to submit them while still abroad!
Destruction of paper documents
Following the recording process, further processing may only be carried out with the electronic document (see GoBD margin no. 139). The paper documents must be removed from the further processing procedure so that no remarks, additions, etc. can be noted on them that are not included on the electronic document.
However, Yokoy allows for a thorough end-to-end expense reimbursement process, so you won’t need (and really won’t miss) your paper receipts anymore!
Documented procedure
GoBD requires that the procedure is documented. This documentation is available on the Yokoy website. Section 8 and 9 explains the required traceability and non-changeability of the expenses is warranted.
Audit function
Yokoy keeps and audit log on documents and implements an “auditor” user role, which would set a strong foundation for both your internal and third-party audits. Access to the audit function can be made available to external auditors if necessary.
