Financial Statements: Frequently asked questions

Yes, it is. We accept online signing if you are filing the financial statements directly with the Trade Register. The printout must clearly indicate the system used for signing and that the document has been signed online. Go to our instructions: Electronic signature in Trade Register notifications.

All limited liability companies and co-operatives must file their financial statements with the Trade Register for each financial period. File the financial statement documents with the Finnish Trade Register even if your company has stopped business activities.

Run a Financial statements search in our Virre Information Service free of charge to see which of your company’s financial statements have already been recorded in the Finnish Trade Register. Go to Virre Information Service.Open link in a new tab

We only receive financial statement details from the Tax Administration if they have been filed exactly as instructed by the Tax Administration. Please contact the Tax Administration for more information. If you have filed your financial statements exactly as instructed by the Tax Administration, they will be registered in the Trade Register within about a week.

You must file all your financial statement documents again with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office – not only the additional submissions or the revised documents. This is to make sure we register the financial statements correctly.

Go to our instructions: How to complete financial statements registered in the Finnish Trade Register

Primarily, the financial statements submitted to the Trade Register are public documents. You can ask us to revise financial statement documents if they include information that is confidential under the law or if the financial statements have been registered incorrectly. Go to our instructions: How to ask for revision of financial statements registered in the Finnish Trade Register.

The form for registering financial statements must be signed by a person responsible for the company, or by a representative authorised with a power of attorney. The bookkeeper can sign the form if he or she is authorised to sign. If an authorised person signs the notification, enclose a certified copy of a special power of attorney or the original general power of attorney. Please note that the financial statements must be dated and signed.

Financial statements can be filed free of charge within eight months of the end of the financial period.

If a limited liability company or co-operative files its financial statements later, the fee is 100 euros.

• Read more about the deadlines for filing financial statements.
• Go to our instructions: Filing financial statements late with the Trade Register.
  

We do not extend the deadline for filing financial statements. If we do not receive your financial statements within the given time, we will send you a new reminder with a time limit of 3.5 months. Read more about the deregistration procedure.

Deregistration takes effect when it is recorded in the register. Deregistration means that the company cannot carry out business. Read more about the consequences of deregistration.Open link in a new tab

For information about tax consequences, please contact the customer service of the Finnish Tax Administration.

Entrepreneurs have various obligations and preparing financial statements is one of them. Unfortunately, we cannot offer accounting services. If you need help in other business-related matters, please contact Enterprise Finland or Finnish Enterprise Agencies for support. Go to our instructions about the boundaries of the Trade Register's Advisory Service.

The notes give specific details about the profit and loss account and the balance sheet, and therefor complement the requirement that the financial statements must give a true and fair view. The notes must include information such as the average number of employees who have worked in the company during the financial period. See also the answer to question 13. Read more about financial statement documents.

The detailed requirements for the notes can be found in the Finnish Accounting Decree or in the Finnish Government Decree on the information presented in the financial statements of a small undertaking and micro-undertaking.

We have sent the request to companies whose company form recorded in the Trade Register is limited liability company. A limited liability company can register mutual real estate limited company as its company form, if the company is a mutual real estate limited company according to its articles of association.

Go to our instructions in Finnish on changing the company form to mutual real estate limited company.

Go to our instructions in Swedish on changing the company form to mutual real estate limited company.

An auditor must be appointed for an organisation where at least two of the following conditions were met during the financial period that has ended and during the financial period immediately preceding it:

• the balance sheet total exceeds 100,000 euros
• the net sales or comparable revenue exceeds 200,000 euros; or
• the average number of employees exceeds three during the financial period

Even if the conditions above are not met, companies are obliged to carry out an audit if their articles of association or rules or by-laws require that an auditor is appointed.
An auditor must also be appointed for an organisation whose principal activities consist of the owning and holding of securities and which exercises significant influence over the operating and financial policies of another entity that is obliged to keep accounting records.

An annual report must be drawn up if the company is a public limited company or a public-interest entity, or it does not meet the criteria of small undertakings as referred to in the Finnish Accounting Act. An entity that is obliged to keep accounting records does not meet the criteria of a small undertaking if at least two of the following thresholds are exceeded during the financial period that has ended and during the financial period immediately preceding it:

• total assets 6 million euros
• net turnover 12 million euros
• average number of employees during the financial period 50.

The annual report must contain the details described in chapter 3, section 1 a of the Finnish Accounting Act. In addition, the provisions of chapter 8, sections 5–8 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act must be taken into account when drawing up an annual report.

Accounting Act (30.12.1997/1336) in FinnishOpen link in a new tab

Limited Liability Companies Act (21.7.2006/624) in FinnishOpen link in a new tab

Only large undertakings or public-interest entities must draw up a cash flow statement. A large undertaking refers to a reporting entity exceeding at least two of the following thresholds during the financial period that has ended and during the financial period immediately preceding it:

• total assets 20 million euros
• net turnover 40 million euros; or
• average number of employees during the financial period 250.