Bokförs

Bokförs is a Swedish verb form meaning that a financial transaction is recorded in a company’s accounting records. The phrase is commonly used to describe the act of posting or documenting events that affect a business’s financial position, such as sales, purchases, or expenses.

In practice, bokföring relies on the double-entry principle: every transaction is posted to at least two accounts, with debet and kredit entries balancing to keep the accounting equation in balance. A sale might be bokförs by debiting a bank or accounts receivable and crediting the revenue account, while a purchase might be bokförs by debiting an expense or asset account and crediting accounts payable. Source documents such as invoices and receipts support each bokföringspostering, and many modern systems automate the process.

Legal and regulatory context in Sweden refers to Bokföringslagen (the Accounting Act). The law requires businesses to keep records of their financial transactions and to maintain reliable documentation. Books and records must generally be kept for a number of years after the end of the financial year, commonly seven years, to support audits, taxation, and legal compliance. Bokföringsskyldighet, the obligation to keep proper bookkeeping, applies to most Swedish businesses, regardless of size, with specific requirements varying by company type and activity.

Common terms related to bokförs include bokföring (bookkeeping), bokföringslagen (Accounting Act), and bokföringsnämnden (Accounting Standards Board). In modern practice, bokförs often occurs within digital accounting systems that continuously import and post transactions from bank feeds and supplier invoices, while maintaining an auditable trail.