Annual return and financial statements
What every Irish company files with the CRO each year, and what the public record shows of it.
A company files an annual return — form B1 — with the Companies Registration Office, with its financial statements attached. The return is due by reference to the company's own annual return date rather than a single national deadline, so two companies filing on time can file months apart.
How much of the figures reach the public record depends on the company's size. A small or micro company may file abridged financial statements, which need not include the profit and loss account — so for a large part of the register turnover and profit are genuinely absent rather than zero. Larger companies file in full.
Filing late is expensive in a way that shows up on the record: it carries a penalty, and it costs the company its audit exemption for the following two years. A trading company with no return filed for years is worth a further question before you work with it.
Where this figure comes from
Read from the returns and financial statements filed with the Companies Registration Office.
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