Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

justificatifs comptables

English translation:

accounting vouchers

Added to glossary by Anmol
Nov 26, 2002 16:30
21 yrs ago
6 viewers *
French term

justificatifs comptables

Non-PRO French to English Bus/Financial
COmpany letter seeking termination of a contract.

It gives the sense of supporting documents or supporting accounts. What would be better or more correct term?

Proposed translations

+1
8 mins
Selected

accounting vouchers

adjustment of intergovernmental fiscal relations; justification for existing ... Reimbursements
Vouchers-Invoices-Bills Budget Accounting, Vouchers-Invoices-Bills ...
www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/listofholdingshtml/listofholdings... USCommissionIntergovernmentalRelationsRecords.pd

... must be involved in formulating and/or approving such justification. ... of documents
Suspicious circumstances: Lack of transparency of accounting vouchers and/or ...
support.casals.com/aaaflash1/ busca.asp?ID_AAAControl=4140
Peer comment(s):

agree PaulaMac (X) : or supporting documentation, more generally
3 mins
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, that is indeed the most appropriate word. It was slightly better than bookkeeping vouchers, also a proposed answer."
+2
2 mins

bookkeeping voucher

Déf. :
Document de source interne ou externe qui sert à enregistrer une opération ayant donné lieu à une écriture comptable et à justifier l'existence de celle-ci.

Note(s) :
Toute écriture doit s'appuyer sur une pièce justificative datée et portant un indice de référence. Les pièces justificatives sont classées méthodiquement et conservées pendant un certain laps de temps. Elles peuvent être soit des pièces justificatives de base, c'est-à-dire concernant des opérations isolées, soit des pièces récapitulatives présentant un ensemble d'opérations. En comptabilité, les pièces justificatives revêtent une importance capitale, car elles justifient chaque écriture comptable et sont susceptibles d'être présentées au professionnel comptable à qui a été confié la mission de vérification (audit, révision) ou d'examen limité.
On appellera pièce justificative du journal ou pièce de journal (journal voucher) les documents justifiant une écriture de journal.

[Office de la langue française, 2000]
Peer comment(s):

agree GILLES MEUNIER
9 mins
agree JCEC
9 hrs
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7 mins

relevant (supporting) figures...

difficult to me more precise without more context. One imagines that the victim was unable to supply the relevant figures ... to save his skin ; or that the employer has ALL the relevant figures to back his eviction...
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2336 days

substantiating documents (plus accounting context) / substantiation and receipts

While "pièce comptable" could be translated as a voucher, there is an important distinction to be made between "pièce comptable interne" (truly a "voucher" - produced as part of the paper trail supporting each accounting entry) and "pièce comptable externe" which is the same as the "justificatif comptable".

A Google search of "accounting voucher" or "bookkeeping voucher" gives very few real life examples in English. However, among the few hundred Google hits, both terms do give lots of examples from translation sources in a variety of languages (French, German, Spanish etc.).
In other words it appears that it has become translator jargon - an internal best-fit answer that is used only in translation.
My opinion is that this use of "voucher" would probably be understood by a native speaker as referring to internal documents - "pièces comptables internes" - exactly the opposite of what a "justificatif comptable" generally means in French.

Alternatives, used in real life, are "source documents" or "supporting documentation", or simply "receipts". The main problem is that each is specific to circumstance.

Therefore, I would suggest "substantiating documents"... as long as the accounting context is clear. Or "substantiation and receipts" if there is insufficient context.
The first option is used by many native-English organisations, in general accounting contexts (see the NASA link below) and especially when specifying what is needed to file expense claims.
The second option is not a consecrated term in English, but has the advantage of being clear.
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