Electronic accounting documents as defined by eIDAS

Abstract

The 21st century is the beginning of a revolution in computerization of accounting, which is associated with electronic accounting documents, their signing, account assignment and storage. Currently, most accounting documents still have traditional paper form, but on the other hand, virtually all accounting documents are created in an IT environment (on a computer), and therefore they have electronic form when they are being created. The eIDAS Regulation, which entered into force in 2016, provided the legal basis for changing a traditional paper document into an electronic document, as building trust in electronic transactions is of great importance for economic and social development. These changes must be followed by changes in legal regulations and practice, as the accounting document plays a key role in accounting. This paper contains an original discussion of the consequences of the eIDAS Regulation regarding legal regulations on accounting documents. The main purpose of the article is to support the thesis that electronic account-ing documents as defined by eIDAS will soon become the dominant way of documenting business opera-tions, and their effective implementation requires changes to the provisions regarding source documents in the Accounting Act and the introduction of special computer tools for their handling within the unit.

Keywords

• eIDAS
• electronic document (e-Document)
• electronic signature (e-Signature)
• electronic delivery (e-Delivery)
• electronic accounting documents
• electronic documents management