Are there Dutch users of Manager, who also want to change the translation of Liabilities into “Vreemd Vermogen” into “Passiva”. In the Dutch system this is the only right way to categorize the debit and credit side of the balance sheet. Or am I the only user who is aware of this incorrect way of presenting the balance sheet???
The Summary is structured according to the Anglo-Saxon model.
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
If you want to include the continental basis in your Summary, it will need to be updated to:
Activa = Passiva
Passiva bestaat uit Vreemd Vermogen en Eigen Vermogen.
> I agree with the point raised by ries.
From an accounting perspective, Manager is correct in using the fundamental equation:
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
However, this is not how a balance sheet is traditionally presented in the Netherlands.
Under Dutch accounting practice, the balance sheet is presented as:
Assets = Liabilities (Passiva)
where Passiva consists of:
Equity (Eigen Vermogen)
Liabilities (Vreemd Vermogen)
In other words:
Passiva = Equity + Liabilities
The issue is therefore not the accounting logic, but the Dutch translation and presentation. Translating Liabilities as Vreemd Vermogen is technically correct, but using it as the heading opposite Activa is confusing for Dutch users, because it suggests that Equity is not part of the right-hand side of the balance sheet.
For the Dutch language version, I believe the Summary would better reflect Dutch accounting practice if it were presented as:
Assets (Activa)
Liabilities (Passiva)
Equity (Eigen Vermogen)
Liabilities (Vreemd Vermogen
This would align with Dutch statutory financial statements, the Dutch Accounting Standards (RJ), and common accounting practice, while leaving the underlying accounting model of Manager completely unchanged.
All could be solved, if we could change the word “Vreemd vermogen” into “Passiva” Everybody satisfied. But presenting the balance sheet as it is now, is for Dutch( and Surinamese) practice formally incorrect. So please give us the key to change the embedded Dutch translation “Vreemd Vermogen”
It seems you ignore the fact that @Ries already mentioned also that changing “Vreemd vermogen” to “Passiva” would make the balance sheet incorrect, not correct.
In Dutch accounting terminology, “Passiva” comprises both “Eigen vermogen” and “Vreemd vermogen”. Manager presents these as separate sections: Activa, Eigen vermogen and Vreemd vermogen. Therefore “Vreemd vermogen” is the correct translation for the liabilities section.
“Passiva” would only be appropriate as a heading above both Eigen vermogen and Vreemd vermogen. It cannot replace Vreemd vermogen while Eigen vermogen remains a separate section.
In brief and for Dutch situation:
Nederlands (Dutch terms):
Activa = Passiva
Passiva = Eigen vermogen + Vreemd vermogen
Therefore also: Activa = Eigen vermogen + Vreemd vermogen
English terms:
Assets = Equity + Liabilities
In English accounting, “passiva” has no exact one-word equivalent. The combined balance-sheet side is normally described as “equity and liabilities”. Translated to accounting equation:
Eigen vermogen (Equity) = Activa (Assets) - Vreemd Vermogen (Liabilities)
You are describing a different report structure.
In Manager, “Vreemd vermogen” is not the heading for the whole credit side. It is the heading for the liabilities section only, while “Eigen vermogen” is shown separately.
Changing that heading to “Passiva” would therefore label only part of the passiva as “Passiva”, which is incorrect. A proper Dutch Activa/Passiva presentation would require “Passiva” as a parent heading above both Eigen vermogen and Vreemd vermogen.
That is not a translation change. It is a change to the report structure.
I answered your request politely. I have flagged two of your comments because wording such as “save me the bookkeeping lessons” is inappropriate and contrary to the Forum Guidelines:
https://forum.manager.io/guidelines
Be respectful. Please treat this Forum with the same respect you would a public park. You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That is fine. But criticize ideas, not people.
The central point has already been explained by @Ries and further detailed by me.
Manager’s Summary uses a vertical balance-sheet presentation, with Activa, Eigen vermogen and Vreemd vermogen shown as separate sections. Your use of “Passiva” as the heading for the entire credit side belongs to the traditional horizontal account-form or T-style presentation, with Activa on one side and Passiva on the other.
In Manager’s current structure, replacing “Vreemd vermogen” with “Passiva” would be incorrect. It would label only the liabilities section as Passiva, while Eigen vermogen—which is also part of Passiva in the traditional Dutch equation—would remain outside that heading.
The existing Dutch translation is therefore correct. This is not a translation error, and the requested word replacement is therefore wrong. Repeating that it is “one simple change” does not alter the meaning of the terms or the structure of the report.