Balance Sheets  Manufacturers, Traders, Suppliers

"Bilanz" (Balance sheet) is german technical language and uniformly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland it is only the first part of the annual financial statements; these are known as the balance sheet, profit and loss account and appendix. These terms are also used in civil and commercial legislation.

The HGB (Commerical code) annual financial statements are the basis for profit distribution and the determination of taxable income. By increasing the significance of the statutory financial statements further pressure is placed on the German mid-sized sector to apply the IFRS accounting policies.

Sole traders, except for commercial partnerships and cooperatives are exempted in Germany by the German Commercial Code from accounting, inventory and accounting obligation. But this is only true for those who maintain a small business (less than 500,000 euros and 50,000 euros profit per financial year). These "small" sole traders are however obligated to create an excess revenue account according to §4 paragraph 3 EStG (German income tax law).

What the term consolidated financial statements prosecuted, so it is in this respect the general term applied in Germany and Austria. One must not be misled by the word "group" here: It is a technical term limited for accounting has its own, legally defined scope. Even cooperatives can in this sense be a consolidated form and be required to prepare consolidated financial statements.

For more information on this topic, see the following links:
Balance sheet analysis, balancing and balance tests.