Here you will learn about the extent to which financial parameters are available for companies in Germany and what the rationale for this is.
North Data determines the financial parameters for companies in Germany based on the annual financial statements published in the Federal Gazette. Both the availability and scope of these financial statements are dependent upon various factors.
Some of the reasons why no financial statements were published can be:
(1) the company is too recent.
(2) the company is a subsidiary and is included in the consolidated financial statement of its parent company ("consolidated"). In this case, we draw attention to this situation (notice on the website, in API/Export via a "Financial Note" in the company's "Financials").
(3) the company refuses to disclose the annual financial statements and is willing to accept respective financial penalties.
(4) it is a small capital company that is not obliged to publish (see the section on "size categories" below)
The scope of the annual financial statement depend on the so-called size class of the company , according to HGB 267(German). (Please also refer to the following articles on Classification into size categories (German) and reliefs depending on size category(German):
(1) Medium-sized and large corporations must disclose their Profit and Loss Account (P&L) and therefore, make profit and sales public. However, these are only a small part of the corporations in Germany (approx. 7-8%).
(2) small corporations need only disclose a condensed balance sheet. Often the profit can only be indirectly calculated or estimated (refer to our article on Profit Figures).
(3) Small Capital Companies do not have to publish their financial statements. They only have to file them (refer to our article on the subject for more information).
If a company does not publish revenues figures, in many cases it is possible to refer to estimated revenue figures.