The calculator allows you to calculate the approximate cost of maintenance of accounting services to support and audit the company.
CalculateIn Austria, Section 245a of the Austrian Commercial Code, 2015 (Unternehmensgesetzbuch - UGB) sets out the requirements for preparation of financial statements, including the applicable accounting standards and financial reporting thresholds, which are in line with European Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002.
Every company is required by law to maintain proper accounting records sufficient to:
The following types of business entities are required to submit financial statements:
Annual financial statements must comply with the local accounting standards (Austrian GAAP).
Financial statements must be in the German language, and accounting items must be presented in euros (EUR).
The financial year begins on 1 January and ends on 31 December of each year.
In accordance with tax legislation, a company is obliged to keep financial statements and tax returns, accounting books, underlying documentation and copy of business correspondence for 7 years after the end of the reporting period.
According to their legal status, Austrian companies are required to annually publish their financial statements, consisting of a balance sheet, profit and loss statement, comparative figures for the previous reporting period and notes to the financial statements.
The company’s managing directors are required to prepare financial statements within the first five months of the new financial year.
The annual general meeting must approve financial statements within the first eight months of the new financial year.
Financial statements of a company must be submitted to the register no later than nine months from the balance sheet date.
Failure to comply with the financial statements filing deadline will result in fines.
The court imposes fines ranging from EUR 700 to EUR 3 600 right after the filing deadline (9 months) has expired.
In the case of a small company, the fine will be from EUR 350 to EUR 1 800.
Each next 2 months of the delay in filing, a further fine of EUR 700 will be charged for small companies, but will increase to EUR 2 100 (300%) in the case of medium-sized corporations and to EUR 4 200 (600%) in the case of large corporations. Such fines are imposed on each managing director personally and the corporation itself.
According to the Companies Act, all Austrian companies that have subsidiaries are required to prepare and submit consolidated financial statements and a consolidated management report.
Subsidiaries are companies that are more than 50% owned by another entity. There are cases where a company owned 50% or less is considered to be a subsidiary if it is controlled by the parent company.
A company controls a subsidiary if the following conditions are met:
A company is exempted from the obligation to prepare consolidated financial statements if its parent company prepares consolidated financial statements, and
1) the parent company is governed by the law of a European Union member state or a European Economic Area country and
2) the parent company is not governed by the law of a European Union member state or a European Economic Area country, but the qualifying minority, whose shares reach 5% of the nominal capital, does not request the preparation of financial statements for the subgroup at least six months before the group’s financial year-end.
Consolidated financial statements of all public-interest entities in Austria, which include listed entities, credit institutions and insurance companies, must be prepared in line with EU-approved IFRS. All other entities are free to prepare consolidated financial statements either in line with EU-approved IFRS or Austrian GAAP.
The following entities are required by law to audit their annual financial statements:
1) Small companies are only subject to audit if a supervisory board was formed to oversee their activities.
A company is considered small in its first financial year if at least two of the three below criteria are met for that year.
Medium-sized and large companies are subject to statutory audit.
2) Medium-sized companies are those that exceed at least two of the three criteria listed for small companies, but do not exceed at least two of the three criteria below:
3) Large companies are those that exceed at least two of the three criteria specified in paragraph 2 for medium-sized companies.
The company’s category changes when the company exceeds or falls below two of the three criteria in two consecutive years.
In Austria, financial statements are prepared under local accounting rules — Austrian GAAP as set out in the Unternehmensgesetzbuch (UGB). For public‑interest entities (for example, listed companies, banks and insurance undertakings), consolidated financial statements must be prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the EU. Other entities may, at their discretion, apply either Austrian GAAP or EU‑adopted IFRS.
Yes, IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) are used in Austria. Since 2005, companies listed on stock exchanges within the European Union are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS, and this requirement applies in Austria to issuers listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. At the same time, Austrian GAAP remains widely used for the preparation of financial statements by other entities.
Austrian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles under the Unternehmensgesetzbuch, UGB) refers to the accounting standards, rules, and procedures that are commonly accepted in Austria. These principles are established by the Austrian Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) and are used by companies to prepare their financial statements in accordance with Austrian accounting regulations.
While Austrian GAAP may differ from International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in certain areas, their purpose is to provide a consistent and transparent framework for financial reporting in Austria.
