Nowadays, all companies or businesses must keep accounting books to record commercial operations, using the foreign trade glossary. The obligation to keep accounting books is contained in article 33 of the Commercial Code. (Experts in the field can give us a more extensive and detailed explanation of the system and its minimum requirements).

In practice, all books are used (even if in computerized form), except the Correspondence Book, which was replaced by the correspondence and business documentation files. ⁱⁱ

What is Gloss or Data Stage?

The Data Stage is a compressed folder containing various files in .txt format that is sent specifically to the emails that are registered on the SAT portal, provided that said information has been requested through the format established for this purpose together with the Security Matrix.

The Foreign Trade Glossary is a brief explanation of the recorded operations.

Each accounting, tax or customs record generated in the process of each of our operations can be “Glossed” with the information and documentation of each company, for that we need the txt file called Data Stage better known as ‘Gloss’ (which is another topic and implies the practical understanding of it). But it will be of no use for your company to receive the Data Stage, if we do not have the capacity to read and understand it to analyze your information in order to make the best decisions for your company.

Importance of the “Foreign Trade Glossary”

I will try to explain its importance from my own perspective, with my personal and professional experience.

If we consider that each request prepared contains our records in each of its fields that we can find in Annex 22 of the RGCE, some are very clear to us because we can identify those words or numbers.

But there are other fields that we do not pay much attention to because we do not know what that could mean until we investigate it ourselves, since, if this does not happen either, we could be overlooking important information and data that could have a negative impact, low or high depending on the level of risk that this “unvalidated” information could trigger in the short, medium or long term.

We believe that it is enough to validate the “basic” fields that each company considers, or only those for which we could have a fine or sanction, however, we forget that each character entered in that document can also generate an economic impact against us .

Above all, for all those companies with any type of certification or foreign trade promotion programs (PROSEC, IMMEX, CIVA, OAS, SECIIT), which must take special care in their operations and which are directly under the scrutiny of the authorities to be monitored , verified and valued, always looking for the smallest of details, an error in order to “punish” the perpetrator “the criminal” for some type of error or omission.

We must have all the evidence and prove compliance with the requirements mentioned in those certifications or programs.

Each record that our company makes, whether it is the accounting area when registering each supplier and client, for each administrative act that the taxpayer performs, etc. Or the planning and purchasing area, for each requisition and purchase order placed; for each invoice issued, the payment and collection record, etc.

It is so important that each record is accurate and validated before executing any operation to avoid misinterpreting the information and sending a different message to the next level in this chain. Likewise, if important data is not recorded and is not transmitted properly or is simply not transmitted, this will have serious repercussions for the company.

There are many companies that, for not keeping their records correctly, are sanctioned and even “eliminated from the game” for non-compliance with the Law and the regulations that govern us in this matter.

I reiterate the importance of having all personnel involved in the management of this sensitive information fully trained and qualified to analyze each operation and ensure that the execution of activities is carried out correctly for the position that requires it, with the clear objective of obtaining the expected results, often improved by this capacity for analysis, understanding and transmission of appropriate communications.

Sometimes we take for granted that “all operations are the same” and that the characteristics “broadly speaking” are the same, we believe that “it is always right, because it has always been done that way”, but many times we do not question it either because we believe that we are not at the level to do it or because we are afraid of being wrong or worse, we say “I am not paid for that”. The thing is that, if the first time we observe a discrepancy we do not question ourselves, when another discrepancy comes along we will let it pass. And this behavior will be repeated, omitting and generating new errors in “the system”.

We must accept that each system has its own particularities and therefore the operations will not be the same, which is why we must be especially careful, we must have that “curiosity” to review everything, to observe the whole picture and to be able to determine that it is “a new operation” for the simple fact that the same operation cannot be carried out twice at the same time or date. Therefore, at the very least the date and the folio must be different, that is just the minimum.

Analysis of the information from the Glossary or Data Stage

We know this entire process of reviewing, analyzing and validating data as “glossing”, glossing the request or glossing documents, that reading of a specific language, of keys, numbers, codes and their correct transcription, that is the Gloss.

Therefore, we must train ourselves to know this language and be able to use it properly, in order to initially determine where the company is in commercial and accounting terms. Once we have done this, we will have the ability to analyze the data and detect any failure or error in the information, if any, and then take the corresponding actions to correct the situation and avoid any potential risk for the company.

Let us not forget the importance of sharing this information; we must be very cautious with whom we give access to it, assuming that the other person does not understand it or that they will “not do anything bad” with said information. In that case, we should not give it to them or only give it partially and specifically the information required for the objective. We can create restricted folders, protected files and even files with a due date to be deleted “from the database” or repository.

The same thing happens with printed documents, and for the same reason my recommendation on this topic specifically will be to destroy them and obtain the certificate of said act, in this way we can have better control of our records.

Download the DataStage application (editable)

We invite you to learn more about regulations and tools such as the foreign trade glossary that can automate and optimize your work. We are giving away this document for download, just fill out the following form to obtain it:

Conclusion and recommendations

It must be up to us to educate ourselves in the process and learn in order to reinvent ourselves every day and be better at what we do, to be sure that the operations we carry out are in compliance with the applicable regulations and we will not have the risk or uncertainty that, if the authority detects these errors before us, the consequences can be quite catastrophic.

Only the authority and the parties involved in each link of the chain, in a very exclusive manner, should have the information of the foreign trade glossary, but not without first having signed/celebrated a confidentiality agreement for the use and management of the information.