0.    INTRODUCTION

       This specification provides the definition of the Balance
       message (BALANC) to be used in Electronic Data Interchange
       (EDI) between trading partners involved in administration,
       commerce and transport.

1.    SCOPE

1.1   Functional Definition

       A message used to exchange enterprise related balances between
       the enterprise and whoever may use them for the purpose of
       accounting, auditing, cost accounting, consolidation, financial
       analysis, etc.

1.2   Field of Application

       The Balance message may be used for both national and
       international applications. It is based on universal practice
       related to administration, commerce and transport, and is not
       dependent on the type of business or industry.

1.3   Principles

       The accounting and auditing partners of an enterprise require
       accounting information, most of which is of a common nature. In
       order, therefore, to cope with the practice, an enterprise
       (parent company, subsidiary, division, etc.), a service bureau,
       a chartered accountant or an auditor - referred to as a sender
       - may transmit balances to the various parties involved - known
       as recipients - such as another enterprise (parent company,
       subsidiary, division, etc.), another service bureau, another
       chartered accountant or another auditor. The trial balance is
       based on the accounting entries reflecting the activity of the
       enterprise and the chart of accounts. It enables the
       preparation of the financial statements. The term balance is
       taken to mean an accounting document that for a given period,
       consists of a list of all accounts from the same accounting
       system. Each account indicates debit or credit total amounts in
       local and foreign currencies. The balance can be transmitted at
       a given moment for control purposes. The message BALANC
       contains information concerning a balance for a given period.
       The frequency of this message ranges from daily to annually.

2.    REFERENCES

       See UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.6 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction,
       Section 1.

3.    TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

3.1   Standard terms and definitions

       See UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.6 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction,
       Section 2.

4.    MESSAGE DEFINITION

4.1   Data Segment Clarification

       This section should be read in conjunction with the Segment
       Table which indicate mandatory, conditional and repeating
       requirements.

   UNH, Message header
       A service segment starting and uniquely identifying a message.
       The message type code for the Balance message is BALANC.
       
       Note: Balance messages conforming to this document must contain
       the following data in segment UNH, composite S009:

       Data element  0065 BALANC
                     0052 D
                     0054 98A
                     0051 UN

   BGM, Beginning of message
       A segment identifying the balance message.

   DTM, Date/time/period
       A segment containing balance opening and closing dates and its
       preparation date.

   RFF, Reference
       A segment containing the number of the balance linked to the
       message and its version number.

   CUX, Currencies
       A segment providing currencies which are specific to the
       balance message.

   FTX, Free text
       A segment containing free text information, in coded or clear
       form, giving additional clarifications solely concerning the
       summary section. In computer-to-computer exchanges such text
       information will normally require the receiver to process this
       segment manually.


   Segment group 1: NAD-RFF-SG2
       A segment group giving information on sender, recipient and
       intermediary.

      NAD, Name and address
          A segment to identify a party.

      RFF, Reference
          A segment to provide references which are specific to the
          concerned party.


      Segment group 2: CTA-COM
          A segment group to identify contacts and related
          communication numbers.

         CTA, Contact information
             A segment to provide contacts related to the party.

         COM, Communication contact
             A segment to provide communication numbers of the
             contact.


   Segment group 3: CCI-CAV
       A group of segments to provide accounting, fiscal, social or
       legal characteristics of the enterprise accounting balance.

      CCI, Characteristic/class id
          A segment to identify a characteristic.

      CAV, Characteristic value
          A segment to provide the value of the characteristic.


   Segment group 4: LIN-MOA-DTM-RFF-QTY-SG5
       A segment group providing the following relevant information
       for a given period of the balance : account number and its
       identification, period, quantity, stated value and record
       number.

      LIN, Line item
          A segment indicating the trial balance line number within
          the message.

      MOA, Monetary amount
          A segment containing detailed information about debit or
          credit trend of the amount, the amount itself in local and
          original currency and the currency code relating to these
          amounts.

      DTM, Date/time/period
          A segment giving detailed information on the opening and
          closing dates of account.

      RFF, Reference
          A segment containing a reference number which may be a
          journal page number (folio) and sequence number within the
          folio (line) as a single reference number or a serial number
          assigned at bookkeeping entry level (record number) for a
          given period.

      QTY, Quantity
          A segment specifying the quantity and the measure unit
          relative to the amount of the accounting trial balance.


      Segment group 5: CPT-SG6
          A segment group containing detailed information identifying
          an account.

         CPT, Account identification
             A segment containing detailed information identifying the
             treated main account number and its subsidiary account
             numbers.


         Segment group 6: CCI-CAV
             A group of segments to provide accounting, fiscal, social
             or legal characteristics of the account.

            CCI, Characteristic/class id
                A segment to identify a characteristic.

            CAV, Characteristic value
                A segment to provide the value of the characteristic.


   Segment group 7: EQN-MOA
       A segment group providing information on trial balance amounts
       and quantities. This group provides totals for verification
       purposes.

      EQN, Number of units
          A segment specifying the number of balance lines for a given
          period relative to the balance message.

      MOA, Monetary amount
          A segment adding up the total amounts in local and all
          foreign currencies in the balance message.


   Segment group 8: AUT-DTM
       A segment group to provide authentication information.

      AUT, Authentication result
          A segment to provide authentication results.

      DTM, Date/time/period
          A segment to provide the date of authentication.

   UNT, Message trailer
       A service segment ending a message, giving the total number of
       segments in the message and the control reference number of the
       message.

4.2   Data segment index (Alphabetical sequence by tag)

          AUT Authentication result
          BGM Beginning of message
          CAV Characteristic value
          CCI Characteristic/class id
          COM Communication contact
          CPT Account identification
          CTA Contact information
          CUX Currencies
          DTM Date/time/period
          EQN Number of units
          FTX Free text
          LIN Line item
          MOA Monetary amount
          NAD Name and address
          QTY Quantity
          RFF Reference
          UNH Message header
          UNT Message trailer

Contents of BALANC