As part of this fortnight’s RegTech Focus, we have chosen a successful Dutch regtech for our Member Spotlight. Since 2014, Informer has been providing online bookkeeping software to SMEs across many industries including finance and logistics.

The software combines online accounting, bookkeeping, invoicing, project management and customer relationship management (CRM). Informer believes that SMEs should do their own bookkeeping but recognises that these smaller organisations often lack the skills and the time to do so. Hence, the Informer program provides a simple and streamlined bookkeeping system which helps SMEs understand their figures and stay in control of their company.

The Holland FinTech member is proud of its forward-thinking culture, seeking to challenge ways of thinking with open-mindedness and new ideas.

The core customers of Informer are startups, freelance businesses and SMEs. The company has a strong base of SME clients in the Netherlands and has this year experienced a period of rapid growth. Consequently, Informer is beginning to expand internationally, first looking to Germany, Austria and Belgium.

Informer partakes of the fintech revolution by providing digital financial services in contrast to traditional accounting and banking models. Informer sees significant potential for growth in collaboration between banks and fintech companies. The PSD2 should help the transition to open banking where smart solutions can be derived from shared data.

Informer has partnerships with two forward thinking banks: Holland Fintech member bunq and Knab bank. Direct API links between Informer and these banks mean that bank transactions are automatically synchronized in the accounting software. This makes real time financial data available to users, a necessity for modern SMEs according to Informer COO, Peter Potters.

Another feature of the bookkeeping software is its smart data analytics, where a photo of a receipt or invoice uploaded to Informer is automatically translated by the algorithm and recorded in the accounting software. Additionally, Informer has recently developed their chatbot for improve access to real time bookkeeping. Clients may ask the chatbot for information and receive the relevant data instantly.

While challenges in the industry remain, Informer sees the transition to dynamic and smart accounting as inescapable. Certainly, the PSD2 reforms encourage this transition but the changing mentality preferring open banking is larger than much talked about EU directive.

An exciting new partnership.

A major development for smart accounting is Informer’s partnership with the Dutch tax authority which facilitate a fully integrated tax system within Informer software from January 1. Tax declarations and direct tax payments can occur within Informer. This streamlined automation is designed to make the tax process a lot less painful for SMEs. Here is a blog post from Informer explaining the new software (in Dutch).

This integrated tax system also incorporates VAT payments. The software measures outstanding VAT and ensure the required cash account for outstanding liability in maintained. VAT payments are then made automatically.

Informer seeks to expand its business in the Netherlands and in Europe, including working with other smart applications or fintech companies to further improve digital bookkeeping. With the coming partnership with the Dutch tax authority, Informer plans to become a leading bookkeeping software company where digital accounting is fully integrated and effortless.