Companies with operations in Belgium are typically required to
draw up their accounting and financial statements and publish them
in Euro. However in exceptional circumstances, when the currency of
the primary economic environment in which the entity operates
(being the 'functional currency'1) is not the
Euro, a request for derogation can be filed with the FPS
Economy2.
The FPS Economy makes its decision based on the advice it
receives from the Commission for Accounting Standards (CAS). If
approved, this derogation is granted for duration of up to three
consecutive years, after which it must be renewed.
TMF Belgium recently successfully prepared and filed one such
request for a client active in the aerospace industry; an industry
predominantly conducted in USD. As having to use the Euro resulted
in significant exchange rate differences (which create unnecessary
fluctuations in the statutory accounts), the client was obviously
pleased to receive a positive response
