This is a translation provided for convenience. In case of any discrepancy, the French version prevails.

Sources, methodology & artificial intelligence

Last updated: 6 October 2026

Trust is at the heart of Idonis: every figure is linked to its official source and can be verified. This page describes where the data come from, which date they relate to, how the Idonis Score is calculated, and the role of artificial intelligence.

1. Data sources

• Identity, directors, activities — Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE / BCE-KBO), open data of the FPS Economy (SPF Économie).
• Annual accounts and ratios — filings with the Central Balance Sheet Office of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB/CBSO), preferably in XBRL format (the most reliable), otherwise CSV or PDF.
• Deeds and publications — Belgian Official Gazette (Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad) (annexes, via the ejustice portal).
• Company contact details — declared to the CBE, published in the Belgian Official Gazette or provided by the company on its own website (contact and legal notice pages; our robot IdonisContactBot complies with robots.txt).
• Sector statistics — Eurostat, structural business statistics (dataset sbs_sc_ovw, Belgium), reprocessed by Idonis for estimates and sector benchmarks.
• Sector betas — A. Damodaran (NYU Stern), sector betas of listed companies in Western Europe (annual edition), mapped to NACE codes by Idonis to estimate the cost of capital (WACC).
• Reference set of valuation multiples — Idonis calculation: weighted average of published multiples from SME disposals (Wallonie Entreprendre, “La transmission d'entreprises en Wallonie en 2025” (Business transfers in Wallonia in 2025); Vlerick Business School, M&A Monitor 2026; Dealsuite, European M&A Monitor), of the sector hierarchy of European listed companies (A. Damodaran, NYU Stern, January 2026) and of published practitioners' benchmarks (sales of accountancy practices, pharmacies and garages), mapped to NACE codes by Idonis. The multiples and the method are those of Idonis; none of these sources validates them.

2. Freshness and “reference date”

Public registers are not updated in real time and Idonis refreshes them periodically. A time lag may therefore exist between reality, the register and the service. Each analysis states the date of the accounts (“as-of”) on which it is based, and a confidence indicator flags old or abbreviated accounts (which disclose less).

3. Verifiability

Each indicator can be opened (“i” button) to display its formula and the underlying accounting items, and a link leads to the official filing (PDF) where available. The Excel export reproduces the formulas for audit purposes.

4. Estimates

Where a company publishes abbreviated accounts (turnover not disclosed), Idonis may provide an estimate (for example of turnover, based on sector coefficients). These estimates are always clearly labelled as such, together with a range and a confidence level, and never replace an officially filed figure.

The cost of capital (WACC) is also an estimate: the cost of equity does not appear in the accounts; it is modelled on the basis of a risk-free rate, a risk premium, a small-company premium (Idonis conventions) and the sector beta, adjusted for the company's leverage. Each step of the calculation is displayed with its values.

5. The Idonis Score

The Idonis Score is a deterministic and explainable indicator of financial strength, calculated by a transparent formula from ratios derived from the accounts (solvency, liquidity, interest coverage, profitability, indebtedness), taking into account the legal situation (insolvency proceedings cap the verdict). Its components and weightings are displayed.

6. Artificial intelligence — transparency and limits

The Idonis conversational assistant is an artificial intelligence system. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), we clearly inform you that you are interacting with an AI.

• Prone to error. Like any generative system, the assistant may produce inaccurate or incomplete answers. It relies on the data of the service and is designed to cite its sources, but its answers must be checked before any use.
• Assistance, not decision. The AI takes no automated decision with legal effect; it assists the analysis, the user decides (see Art. 22 GDPR).
• Scope. Public data, read-only. The assistant does not provide regulated advice (investment, legal, accounting).
• Data. Do not enter sensitive personal information into it (see the Privacy Policy).

7. Reporting an error

Does a piece of data look wrong to you? Bear in mind that it may faithfully reflect the official source (in which case a correction is a matter for the source authority). For any report concerning the processing by Idonis: contact@idonis.ai.