The National Bank of Belgium publishes the annual accounts that Belgian companies file each year. For an SME, NBB data helps you assess a customer, a supplier or a partner before you commit. Here is how to read this information and put it to work in your own processes. You will also see when automation becomes worthwhile.
What NBB data contains
Limited liability companies, such as BVs/SRLs and NVs/SAs, file their annual accounts each year with the Central Balance Sheet Office. Depending on their size, they use a micro, abridged or full format, and some also publish consolidated accounts. The filings include the balance sheet, the income statement, the notes and often the headcount. You can consult these documents free of charge on the National Bank's website. Each filing follows a standard structure, which makes comparisons between companies easier.
However, these figures reflect the situation at the closing date, not in real time. A company may have changed a lot since its last filing. For volatile sectors such as retail or construction, therefore, complete NBB data with other signals, for example recent changes in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. Also check the date of the last filing, because a late filing can already be a warning sign.
Analysing NBB data without an accounting background
Three families of ratios are enough for a first reading. Liquidity shows whether the company can pay its short-term debts. Solvency shows the share of equity in total assets. Finally, profitability measures what the business actually earns. Always compare several financial years, because a trend says more than a single snapshot. Also look at how equity and cash have evolved over the last three years, which NBB data makes easy to follow.
Company size matters too. The Belgian Code of Companies and Associations distinguishes micro, small, medium-sized and large companies based on total assets, turnover and average workforce. This classification notably determines which format of accounts applies. It also helps you compare NBB data with companies of a similar profile. A micro company publishes less detail than a large one, which sometimes limits what NBB data can reveal.
Our NBB data article and when to automate
Our article on automated financial analysis shows how to turn NBB data into a readable report. It presents the calculated ratios, the size classification, the trend charts and the downloadable PDF report. It also explains who benefits most: accountants, banks, B2B buyers and due diligence firms. Each section of the report comes with short comments on the key ratios. Finally, the article recalls the limits of NBB data, which cannot replace real-time monitoring.
Call on a developer when you regularly analyse many files or want to integrate NBB data into your CRM. Espero-Soft builds tools that retrieve, normalise and present this information, with useful alerts for your teams. As a result, you save time on collection and spend it on decisions. We can also link these analyses to alerts from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, so that your team quickly sees important changes in NBB data and company status.
