Translation of annual accounts: why, when and how?

For mortals, Halloween, Black Friday and Christmas are kind reminders that the year is approaching... But if you are an accounting officer, this means that the time is approaching to file the annual accounts or the translation of the annual accounts, if the company in question is developing in an international arena. You'll have a red circle around this date on your calendar - and not because it's a holiday!

Within the broad world of economic translations, the annual accounts are particularly important, both because of their relevance and their mandatory nature in many cases, so we dedicate this input to clarifying why, when and how we should make a translation of our annual accounts.

What are annual accounts?

Maybe we're preaching to the converted if you're already an accountant (and no, we're not talking about business owners), but it's always good to take some time to clarify the concepts and notions. The annual accounts are the set of accounting documents that reflect a company's financial situation in the last fiscal year.

The accounts have numerous aims. It puts a company's financial status in black and white, simplifying the year-on-year analysis for both legal purposes and to facilitate strategic decision-making on the part of the relevant people. Making them public is also a major exercise in corporate transparency.

The annual accounts are mandatory for the purposes of carrying out and filing with the Companies Register, with some exceptions (in general terms, self-employed workers). This means that public limited and limited liability companies, as well as partnerships limited by shares and mutual guarantee partnerships are all subject to this accounting obligation, as well as pension funds and foundations.

What are annual accounts? 

The General Accounting Plan, which is the legal instrument governing all matters relating to the presentation of an company's annual accounts (in harmony with NIC-IFRS, the international standard regulations), explains the documents that make up the annual accounts:

• The general balance sheet
• Profit and loss accounts or income statement
• The statement of change in equity
• Cash flow statement
• The report (or notes) on the financial statement

On the other hand, there is a whole series of detailed principles, criteria, conditions, procedures, annexes and even models (ordinary, abbreviated, for SMEs) that must be taken into account when preparing, submitting and assessing each of the parts of this document, perhaps most important tool in accounting terms for any company . 

When should annual accounts be presented? 

Given that annual accounts are used as a summary and analysis of an organisation's accounting development over the year, it's logical that they should be prepared at the close of the financial year, generally within the same calendar year. As a complex process, the filing date is 31 July later.

However, there are several previous periods that must be taken into account:

• 31st March: end date for drafting annual accounts. 
• 31st April: end date for accounting books to be authorised. 
• 30th June: date accounts presented to the company's annual meeting. 
• 31st July: date accounts deposited in the Companies Register. 

Why should I translate my annual accounts?

Generally speaking, there's no obligation to translate your accounts into other languages, provided that your company's headquarters are in your own country. In other words, if our company has its headquarters in Spain, the accounts are presented in the official language of Spain, i.e. in Spanish.

But what about if the company also operates in other countries, where they speak other languages? It means you'll have taken the leap onto the international stage, whether by opening a branch, subsidiary or permanent premises, etc. In these cases, you'll be required by law to submit your accounts in those countries, in their official languages.

When are annual account translations mandatory?

There are a couple of cases in this regard:

• If we wish to open a branch or subsidiary in another country of foreign language, we will be legally obliged to submit our translation of annual accounts. For example, if your parent company is in the UK and you want to expand to Germany, you would need to present your annual accounts in German. 
• When we are already established abroad, in the specific case of the branches, and sometimes (depending on the legislation of each country), we will also have to present what is called consolidated accounts (those relating to the entire business group); if you're in China, it would be Mandarin Chinese. 

The other major circumstance in which translation becomes mandatory is if we wish to opt for international tenders, subsidies or tenders. The standard in these cases is that the authority concerned will request detailed financial documentation from all applicants, whether or not you have a regular presence in the geographical area the tender relates to. 

Other cases in which annual account translation is advisable

But apart from these obligations, there are other powerful reasons that advise the translation of the annual accounts. Here, we'll look at the two most relevant (and most obvious) reasons why it should be done by any company expanding internationally. 

• On the one hand, we have the acquisition of partners and investors. It's logical that any person or organisation assessing the potential to take part in a project would want to know about a company's financial situation in detail; and if you can do it in your own language, all the better. 
• On the other hand, there is the image of corporate transparency, which we already mentioned before the end. If you want your financial results to be truly accessible to an international audience, this is your finest asset. Large companies often translate their accounts, into English at least. 

What type of translation do you need?

If you have ever seen (we're no longer telling you) one of these documents, you've noticed that it's a highly complex material that requires a great technical specialization (for something they create in-house), not to mention the importance of having clear accounts, whether in our native language, in any other language. 

And the difficulties and complexities are not insignificant. Let's list a few, the most obvious: 

• To start with, both the contents and the form of the documents themselves must follow a long series of legal, accounting and tax standards and standards (which, by the way, can and usually present variations from country to country). It's a translator's duty to stay up-to-date.
• In this area, work is carried out with a terminology that is no longer specific, but sometimes polysemic (an example of a glossary of Latin American Spanish American English) that can lead to undesirable ambiguities, when not directly in pure and hard error.
• And, like any translation, it is highly recommended that you have a natural dream . In Spanish, the most obvious example is the American and European variants of 'annual accounts' and 'financial statements'. '€1000' or 'EUR 1,000.00'?).
• Apart from the letters, there are the figures, the quintessence of the accounts. It requires an eagle eye and surgical precision; needless to say, this is where being accurate down to the smallest decimal point is absolutely meant in the literal sense.
• Finally, but not least, there is the question of layout, presentation. If there's one thing annual accounts all have in common, it's tables; and if there’s one thing all world languages have in common, it’s different extensions, not to mention alphabets, formats, etc.

Is it necessary to post a certified translation of the annual accounts?

There is no doubt that the translation of annual accounts requires a specialised translation by a professional with direct experience in legal and economic translation, and particularly in the work of these specific materials. Does this mean that you need a sworn translation? Let's take a look. 

First of all, do we know what a sworn translator is? We can define it as the professional translator enabled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out official translations that have full legal validity that he/she exercises as a notary public. They're charged with verifying the annual account translation, providing their signature and stamp. 

So, are accounts sworn, or not? It depends. If you’re translating your accounts for purely informative or communication purposes, to publish on your website or in an annual report for example, aiming to generate trust and loyalty among customers or users, you could opt for a simple translation, which will always be more budget-friendly.

On the other hand, if you have to file the accounts with a public body (as a general rule, the Trade Register or its equivalent in other countries), there is no doubt or escape: you are required to have an official sworn translation, or you could run the risk of writing your accounts in the target language, if you have an expert adviser who understands the material in the source language. 

Which other financial documents need to be translated annually?

Annual accounts are by far the most commonly translated financial document; logical, when you consider the obligatory nature of this international landscape, as we already mentioned. But this isn't the only financial document to be translated - not even the only one that's translated once a year.

Other documents should also often be translated as legal imperative, such as external and independent audit reports when the company is listed on the stock exchange or if requested by a bank to open a credit facility or shareholders. It’s a similar scenario with risk management or corporate social responsibility reports.

And then there is all that material that is often used as a basis for preparing accounts (whether it is translated or not). The variety is huge, depending on the sector and company's scale. It could include anything from contracts and payment methods to informative or promotional documents. For example:

• International credit cards
• Credit rating reports
• Brochures on stock market products
• Fund management reports
• Expert opinions on property valuations
• Investment plans
• Proofs of payment
• Bank guarantee agreements
• Company deed of constitution
• Tax inspection reports

Financial translation, the key to internationalisation

All these texts share certain clear and specific characteristics: they focus on the theme of finance in the broadest sense. If we go to the field of internationalisation, we will find ourselves face to face with the translation of economic texts, a real branch of specialisation within translation.

In fact, specialists in this field of translation (economic-financial translation) have the key to help us transfer the international threshold by transferring the economic, financial and accounting content of our language to another. They can do so because they see them every day and know their particularities.

Even native speakers can find this type of content impenetrable, don't you think? Omnipresent anglicisms and the recurrent use of recently coined acronyms and neologisms are combined with the field's characteristic economy of expression and writing style. And whilst the aim is to seek clarity, the opposite can sometimes be true of the translation.

Characteristics of a (good) annual accounts translator

Returning to the specific case of the translation of annual accounts, the specialist translator brings together the qualities of an accounting officer who knows the job with the linguist who dominates both languages and knows how to convey information, ideas and concepts from one to another clearly and precisely.

• At a linguistic level, they'll have a fluent grasp of the vocabulary (abbreviations, technical terms, jargon) as well as the morphological and syntactic aspects of annual accounts (for example, the use of the passive voice and impersonal tone).
• Of course, you are familiar with the differences in the structure of the documents, as well as of a regulatory type (in the case of companies or corporate governance bodies, for example). 

This is clearly seen in the treatment of the account tables, a basic tool for the annual accounts. Finding mere equivalents between the blocks, sections, headings and items on these ‘forms' (succinct by nature) can get complicated, and the differences between countries (even those with the same language) are stark.

Even with few references and context, as is often the case, the good financial translator knows where to find the information for the translation of annual accounts (in databases, in glossaries prepared over the years of work) and what are the appropriate references to be compared to those that are.

In addition, know when and how to use machine translation as help; to achieve uniform terminology using translation memories, and avoid glaring errors in the figures using LQA, for example - but not to entrust something as important as your company accounts to a machine.

Our advice

If you have reached this point, it's because you probably need to translate your company's annual accounts. At ATLS, as a translation company spanning upwards of 25 years of experience, we have seen all kinds of mistakes that can be avoided beforehand.

Firstly, don't underestimate the task of translating the annual accounts, because although it may seem easy, it is a highly complicated process that requires specialised translation and experienced translators. A general translation is no good here!

If you need to make a sworn translation of the annual accounts, make sure that the translator has the sworn translator certificate, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you work with a translation agency, it is also vital that it has ISO 17100 quality certification, which is the most demanding seal of approval for translation quality awarded to companies in this sector.

We insist again and again (and ad infinitum): we recommend having the translation of annual accounts carried out by an experienced translation agency with translators specialised in this field. This way, you are certain not to fail 😉.

Do you need to translate the annual accounts?

Now that you know that a “economic translation” does not just mean “a translation that is cheap for me,” you have to put your hands on the job to find someone who is responsible for translating annual accounts professionally.

We recommend that you, without hesitation, a specialised, qualified translation agency with experience in both the strict annual accounts and the translation applied to the internationalisation of business .

And we recommend an agency that is not only for the part we are dealing with, but especially because agencies (at least those that deserve the penalty) have suitable technological tools, quality certifications ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 and civil liability insurance, in case, we almost miss out on everything...

Frequently asked questions on the translation of annual accounts for 2025

Daniel Lenhardt