The SIE File – What Is It?

SIE stands for Standard Import/Export and is the Swedish standard format for moving accounting data between systems. It's a text file that every major Swedish accounting program can read – Fortnox, Visma eAccounting, Bokio, Björn Lundén, Hogia and many more.

Why is SIE needed?

Your accountant probably uses a different system than Vendion. Instead of manually typing in each day's sales, VAT and rounding differences, you send a SIE file once per month or year. The accountant opens the file in their program and all vouchers import automatically – balanced, with the correct accounts, VAT rates and dates.

Without SIE:

• Manual entry of Z-reports every day
• High risk of typos
• Hours spent each month
• Difficult reconciliation

With SIE:

• One file per month (or year)
• Import takes minutes
• No typing errors
• Full reconciliation against Z-reports

What SIE types exist?

SIE Gruppen (the Swedish standards body) defines four versions:

Vendion always exports SIE Type 4, the modern standard supported by every major Swedish accounting program.

What's in the file?

A SIE file is a plain text file (you can open it in Notepad), but it follows a specific structure:

• Metadata: Company name, organization number, fiscal year, program name, generation date
• Chart of accounts: List of every account used (e.g. 3001 Food sales, 2620 Output VAT 12%, 1580 Card receivables)
• Vouchers: One per Z-report (daily register reconciliation) with all debit/credit rows
• Transactions: Each row shows account, amount and description

Example voucher in SIE format:

#VER "Z" 42 20260419 "Z-report #42"
{
  #TRANS 1580 {} 10000.00 "Card receivables"
  #TRANS 3001 {} -8928.57 "Food sales 12%"
  #TRANS 2620 {} -1071.43 "Output VAT 12%"
}

Your accountant reads this straight into their system.

Technical standard (for the curious)

• File extension: .se (sometimes .txt)
• Character encoding: Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1), not UTF-8. Swedish characters å, ä, ö are handled correctly.
• Line endings: CRLF (Windows-style) – important for compatibility
• Date format: YYYYMMDD without dashes (e.g. 20260419)
• Amounts: SEK with two decimals (e.g. 100.00)
• Standard: SIE format 4E, defined by SIE Gruppen

You don't need to care about the technicalities – Vendion generates the file correctly. But if your accountant mentions "encoding errors" or "line breaks" you now know what it's about.

End-to-end workflow

The full chain from sale to books:

1. Sales: Guests pay at the register during the day
2. Z-report: End of day – Vendion automatically creates a Z-report
3. Voucher: Vendion builds an accounting voucher with debit/credit rows
4. SIE export: Once a month (or year) you export SIE from Admin → Accounting
5. Accountant: Send the file to your accountant (or book it yourself)
6. Import: The accountant imports the SIE into Fortnox/Visma/Bokio
7. Declaration: The accountant files VAT returns and year-end

The beauty is that everything between steps 1 and 4 is automated. You do nothing manual with the books – Vendion calculates it all directly from the sales.

Which systems can read SIE?

Practically every Swedish accounting program:

• Fortnox – Sweden's most widely used cloud accounting
• Visma eEkonomi / Visma Administration / Visma eAccounting – classics in the small business segment
• Bokio – free accounting for sole traders and small businesses
• Björn Lundén – older but still popular in some industries
• Hogia Ekonomi – common at accounting bureaus
• Wint – automated bookkeeping for small business
• Speedledger – budget alternative
• Fortnox for accountants / PE Accounting / Itello – professional bureau tools

If you're picking a new accounting system, SIE import support is a minimum requirement. All of the above handle SIE Type 4 without issues.

Common questions

Is the SIE file safe to email? Yes. It contains accounting data but no guest personal data (only your restaurant's own org number and sales figures). If you want extra caution you can encrypt the file or use a secure portal your accountant provides.

How often should I export? At least once a month – before your VAT filing (by the 12th or 26th depending on company size). Many export weekly to keep their accountant in sync and catch issues early.

Can I open the file myself? Yes, you can open it in Notepad or a text editor like VS Code. But don't edit anything manually – a modified file becomes unbalanced and won't import. Look, never save.

What if I forget to export? Nothing dramatic – everything stays in Vendion. You can export retroactively for any period. Swedish bookkeeping law requires the books to be accessible, which they are in Vendion even without SIE export.

Must I use SIE, or can I print on paper? SIE isn't required by law but is what every modern accountant expects. Paper receipts and manual entry belong to the 1990s. Financially, SIE saves tens of thousands of SEK per year compared to manual bookkeeping.

What does SIE export cost? Nothing. It's included in Vendion from the lowest plan. You don't pay per file or per month.

Is SIE a Swedish or international standard? Swedish. SIE Gruppen is a Swedish organization (founded 1992). Other countries have their own formats – in the US it's QuickBooks IIF, in Germany DATEV, in Norway SAF-T. SIE is unique to Sweden.

Related

See also "Export SIE from Vendion – step-by-step", "Import SIE into Fortnox", "Import SIE into Visma eAccounting" and "Import SIE into Bokio".