Financial statements of Polish companies 2020 — review
The financial statements of Polish companies for 2020 can be downloaded for free from the government eKRS database. Unfortunately, they are not error-free: XML formats show that 50 Polish companies with the highest revenues earned a total of over PLN 563 billion.
Company financial statements 2020 in the National Court Register of Poland (eKRS)
In Poland from 2019 electronic financial statements of companies are submitted in XML format which means that they immediately go to the database in electronic form. The Polish business register in which you can find them is eKRS, Elektroniczny Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (Polish electronic National Court Register).
Polish companies had time to submit their 2020 financial reports to eKRS until 30 June 2021. This obligation applied to private enterprises and non-profit organizations that keep full accounting. Company financial statements are always prepared at the end of the financial year in order to close the books.
Additionally, it is worth knowing that because of the amendment to the Polish Accounting Act, which was passed on November 15 2021, financial statements of Polish companies for a year 2021 will be submitted in the new, standardized XHTML format.
How many Polish companies have submitted electronic financial statements for 2020?
According to the data included in the eKRS database, electronic financial statements for 2020 in XML format were submitted by 250k Polish companies.
The entire database of XML financial statements of Polish companies for 2020 includes, i.a.:
- 195 480 reports of limited liability companies (in Polish: spółki z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością)
- 22 996 reports of limited partnerships (in Polish: spółki komandytowe)
- 5 072 reports of joint-stock companies (in Polish: spółki akcyjne)
- 7 046 reports of general partnerships (in Polish: spółki jawne)
- 1 418 reports of limited joint-stock partnerships (in Polish: spółki komandytowo-akcyjne)
- 88 reports of professional partnerships (in Polish: spółki partnerskie)
- 817 reports of branches of a foreign companies
- 7 219 reports of cooperatives (in Polish: spółdzielnie)
- 5 205 reports of foundations (in Polish: fundacje)
- 3 685 reports of associations (in Polish: stowarzyszenia)
Important! Financial statements 2020 of Polish companies sometimes contain errors
It appears that preparing financial statements in XML is still quite confusing for many Polish enterprises. When filling in the XML statements they can choose one of the two options to present revenues for a given year:
- in PLN (sum with accuracy to two places after the dot)
- in thousands (integer values).
Polish entrepreneurs often mark the field units expressed in thousands in the eKRS but enter the sum of revenues in PLN. The result of this mistake is incorrect final data — for example, revenues of 3 million turn into revenues of 3 billion (three zeros are added).
10 Polish companies that recorded the highest revenues last year according to XML financial statements 2020
We analyzed all 2020 XML financial statements in eKRS focusing on the 50 companies that achieved the highest net revenues in 2020. It was easy for us as we are a company information provider that ensures business APIs for Poland.
The data from eKRS shows that the company that recorded the highest revenues in Poland in 2020 is Jerónimo Martins which includes, among others, the “Biedronka” chain of stores. Last year, the company earned a total of PLN 61.22 billion which is 5.64 billion more than in 2019. The revenues from the sale of Jerónimo Martins’ goods and services alone amounted to almost PLN 59.90 billion net in 2020.
The second largest net revenue in 2020 had (according to the complex XML financial statements) company named Avery Dennison Polska Sp. z o.o. — PLN 47.53 billion. Unfortunately, this is an example of the three extra zeros error mentioned above. When we look at this company’s financial statements which are available in PDF format we discover that Avery Dennison actually made 47 million in 2020, not 47 billion…
Below is a list of 10 Polish companies that, according to data from XML financial statements (including those with an error in units expressed in thousands), achieved the highest revenues:
As you have already guessed, Avery Dennison Polska is not the only Polish company from the table above whose 2020 financial statements unfortunately cannot be trusted… Agrobud, Lidl, IZO-BET, PLASTMOROZ, LG Energy Solution Wrocław, “Ajga” Stankiewicz, Przetwórnia Mięsa Kamiński are companies whose XML financial statements show different results than those in PDF.
How to verify “suspicious” numbers in the columns of electronic financial statements? Unfortunately, you have to download the entire package of financial documents submitted by a given company and look at the report in PDF (if there is one in the eKRS).
Financial statements 2021 in Poland: submission deadline
Financial statements of Polish companies for 2021 should be submitted no later than 6 months from the end of the financial year. This deadline was extended by 3 months already in the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The obligation to submit financial statements 2021 to the National Court Register (in Polish: Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy) is invariably imposed by private sector companies and non-profit organizations in Poland. Financial statements (also consolidated financial statements) in XML format must be submitted by companies entered in the National Court Register. This applies to financial statements that have been prepared from October 1, 2018, which have not been prepared in accordance with IAS (International Accounting Standard). From June 1, 2022, all financial statements of Polish companies (or of branches of a foreign companies) must be submitted in the new XHTML format.
API Financial reports for business
Thanks to the technological services of the Transparent Data company, business customers can obtain financial reports of Polish companies from the Polish National Court Register via the modern RegTech Data Integrator platform or API Financial reports and thus download companies’ financial documents even when the original source has a technical break.
