In Germany, almost every accountant keeps the books in DATEV. For a freight forwarder that means one thing: your invoices have to end up in DATEV — clean, auditable, and without re-typing. This is often where software either works in the German market or quietly fails.
Why the DATEV export matters
Without a DATEV export, someone re-types every invoice into the accounting system — or the accountant does it and bills you for the hours. Both are slow, costly and error-prone. A proper export in the DATEV format (Buchungsstapel) turns it into one click: the accountant imports the file and it is done.
What a good DATEV export must do
- The right format. Not any CSV — the DATEV format, with the correct header, accounts, document date and invoice number.
- Tax keys (BU-Schlüssel). VAT rates must travel as the correct keys, or the tax will not reconcile.
- Consultant and client numbers. Configurable per company — every practice has its own.
- SKR03 or SKR04. The chart of accounts drives the revenue accounts; it must be selectable.
- Multi-currency. Cross-border loads in EUR and other currencies, stated cleanly.
GoBD comes with it
The export alone is not enough — the data must also be GoBD-compliant: an issued invoice stays immutable (corrections only via credit note), there is an audit trail, and everything is kept for ten years. That is the trust German customers expect.
The real point
A good DATEV export is not a bolt-on stuck on at the end. It falls out naturally when the invoice is built from the real order and delivery — then the numbers are right and the route into accounting is just an export instead of re-typing. That is the standard modern freight software is measured by, and the direction Nucra is built in: enter once, use everywhere.