Annual accounts or annual report for trading partnerships and limited partnership
A trading or limited partnership must close its current accounts with either annual accounts or an annual report.
Different rules apply depending on the size of the company and whether the partners are natural persons or legal entities.
Large enterprise
Larger enterprises mean companies that meet at least two of the following conditions two years in a row (same conditions):
- More than 50 employees on average
More than SEK 40 million reported
More than SEK 80 million reported
Other companies are normally counted as smaller companies.
Annual accounts
A company with only natural persons (people) as partners and which is not considered a large enterprise as described above must prepare annual accounts in accordance with the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's K regulations for annual accounts.
The annual accounts must consist of:
- A balance sheet showing the financial position of the trading partnership at the end of the financial year.
- A profit and loss statement showing the trading partnership's income and expenditure for the year.
- Supplementary information to the balance sheet and profit and loss statement.
Annual accounts guide on the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's website (in Swedish)
Annual report
Trading partnerships with at least one legal entity as partner must always prepare an annual report. The annual report must be drawn up in accordance with the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's K regulations. In the case of a small trading partnership with one legal entity as partner, you can choose to prepare the annual report in accordance with the simplified K2 regulations instead of the K3 regulations. However, companies classified as large enterprises must always prepare their annual report according to the main K3 regulations.
K2 regulations on the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's website (in Swedish)
K3 regulations on the Swedish Accounting Standards Board's website (in Swedish)
The annual report must consist of:
- Directors' report
- Profit and loss statement
- Balance sheet
- Notes supplementing the information in the balance sheet and profit and loss statement.
If your trading partnership is classified as a large enterprise, you annual report must also include a cash flow statement.
Auditor
A trading partnership is not usually required to have an auditor, but there are exceptions.
Trading partnerships classified as large enterprises (see above) are subject to the audit requirement.
Small trading partnership which have one legal entity as partner and meet at least two of the following criteria must have a qualified auditor to review the annual report:
- More than 3 employees (on average)
- Balance sheet total of more than SEK 1.5 million
- Net turnover of more than SEK 3 million.
One and the same criterion must have been met for two consecutive years.
Submit to the Swedish Companies Registration Office
You must submit the following documents to the Swedish Companies Registration Office:
- annual report
- audit report (if the company is required to have an auditor)
- consolidated accounts with audit report (if your trading partnership is the parent company of a large group).
Unlike annual accounts, annual reports are public documents.