Creating a procedural documentation

Overview

The GoBD require every business subject to bookkeeping obligations to keep a procedural documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation): a description of how documents are created, processed, retained and protected. You create this document yourself or together with your tax advisor – Kyvento does not generate it automatically. This article provides you with the facts about Kyvento that belong in your documentation.

The typical structure

A procedural documentation is typically divided into four parts:

1. General description: your business model and the role of billing (for example: recurring subscription invoices via Kyvento).
2. User documentation: who does what in the system – from creating a product to cancellation.
3. Technical system documentation: the software in use and its protective mechanisms.
4. Operational documentation: your recurring processes, such as the month-end close.

These Kyvento facts belong in it

For the technical part, you can describe the following characteristics of Kyvento and, where useful, refer to the respective support articles:

• Document creation: invoices are created automatically from subscriptions (billing run) or manually; every invoice goes through the path draft → finalization → dispatch.
• Number assignment: sequential, gapless number ranges per document type; the number is assigned only at finalization (see "Invoice numbers: gapless and sequential").
• Immutability: finalized documents are write-protected, corrections are made exclusively via cancellation documents; PDF, financial data and e-invoice are secured with a SHA-256 checksum (see "GoBD-compliant archiving").
• Retention: invoice and dunning documents are protected from deletion for 10 years; GDPR anonymization preserves tax-relevant documents.
• Access control: team members work with graduated permissions (see "Inviting team members and managing permissions"); optionally, you secure accounts with two-factor authentication.
• Dispatch proof: the email log documents the sending of invoice emails.
• Data handover: posting data leaves the system via the DATEV export or CSV exports (see "Setting up the DATEV export").

Describing your own processes

Add the points that only you can answer:

• Who on your team creates products and prices, who finalizes and cancels invoices?
• When and by whom is the DATEV export generated and handed over to the tax advisor?
• How do you handle special cases – such as manual invoices, credit notes or payment discrepancies?

Good to know

• The procedural documentation is a living document: record changes to processes and settings with a date – during a tax audit, the version valid at the time is what counts.
• Many chambers and tax advisors provide samples and templates; the Kyvento facts from this article fill the technical part.

Next steps

• Read up on the protective mechanisms in detail – see "GoBD-compliant archiving"
• Record the monthly routine as operational documentation – see "Period closing and month-end"