Kristina Segerqvist
Manager, Group Reporting
Finland is preparing new legislation that would require most companies filing financial statements with the Finnish Trade Register to use a structured digital reporting format. The proposed reform follows the introduction of digital financial statement amendments into the Finnish Accounting Act in 2023 and would significantly change how statutory financial statements are prepared and filed.
What is the purpose of digital financial statements?
The reform is based on EU directives aimed at increasing corporate transparency and facilitating cross-border access to company information. Digital financial statements enable authorities and other stakeholders to make more efficient use of financial data.
Another key objective is to improve data quality. In the future, incomplete or erroneous financial statements can be identified already at the filing stage, something that has not been possible with traditional PDF-based financial statements.
Who will be required to file digital financial statements?
Under the proposed legislation, the digital filing procedure would apply to legal entities that are required under Chapter 3 of the Finnish Accounting Act to submit financial statement documents to the Trade Register.
The obligation would apply to:
- limited liability companies
- general partnerships and limited partnerships whose general partners are limited liability companies
- Finnish branches of foreign companies, unless the foreign undertaking’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting Directive
In addition, the auditor’s report and the auditor’s note would also become digital.
The following entities would be excluded from the scope of the legislation:
- cooperatives
- housing companies
- foundations
- associations
- credit institutions
- insurance companies
Expected timeline
The legislation on digital financial reporting is currently being prepared and was submitted to Parliament in May 2026. According to the current government proposal, the implementation timetable would be:
- For financial years beginning on or after 1 July 2027, digital financial statements would be mandatory for companies required to appoint an auditor.
- For financial years beginning on or after 1 July 2028, the requirement would extend to companies without a statutory audit obligation.
The long-term objective is that foundations will also submit their annual reports electronically. However, the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) has not yet published a detailed implementation timetable for foundations.
What format is required for digital financial statements?
Digital financial statements must be prepared in a structured, machine-readable format.
Financial statements are prepared using a standardised structure known as a taxonomy. Taxonomies define how financial information is classified and presented, ensuring that both humans and systems interpret the data consistently.
The financial statements must be submitted in XHTML format (a web-based format that can be viewed in a browser) and include Inline XBRL (iXBRL) tags.
In a structured financial statement, specific sections defined by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) are identified with digital tags. These tags are based either on the Finnish Accounting Act or on IFRS, depending on the accounting framework applied by the company.
Simply saving a Word document as an XHTML file is not sufficient. To be considered a digital financial statement, the information must also be structured according to the applicable taxonomy and marked up with iXBRL tags.
What information must be tagged?
The Finnish Patent and Registration Office determines which financial statement data must be marked with digital iXBRL tags.
At present, the PRH's Accounting Act-based SBR taxonomy includes tags for:
- income statement items
- balance sheet items
- cash flow statement items
for both consolidated and separate financial statements.
In addition, certain data elements required by EU legislation must be tagged, including:
- the company’s unique identifier
- number of employees
- information relating to group structure
The scope of tagging requirements may expand in the future.
Progress of the legislative process can be followed on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s project page: Digitalisation of Financial Statement Reporting (site available only in Finnish and Swedish).
How to prepare digital financial statements
The technical implementation of digital financial statements will largely depend on the readiness of software providers.
It is expected that some limited liability companies will be able to generate compliant digital financial statements directly from their accounting software. This is particularly relevant for companies that already prepare their financial statements within accounting systems.
However, digital reporting requires the chart of accounts and financial statement items to be mapped to the taxonomy published by the PRH.
Where financial statements are prepared outside the accounting system, a separate tagging software will likely be required to apply the necessary iXBRL tags.
A free conversion service planned for small businesses
According to the current plans, the PRH intends to provide a free conversion service for the smallest companies. This would allow financial statements prepared in formats such as Word to be converted into a compliant digital format and filed with the Finnish Trade Register.
The most recent government proposal suggests extending this option to all small and micro-sized enterprises.
Digital financial statements for listed companies
Listed companies will continue using ESEF tags for their consolidated financial statements.
Going forward, it is likely that, in addition to the consolidated financial statements, the parent company's financial statement section will also be tagged using Accounting Act-based SBR tags.
PRH provides an API for accessing digital financial statement data
The PRH has published an application programming interface (API) that enables digital financial statement data to be retrieved directly into software applications.
The API provides access to companies’ income statement and balance sheet data when available in digital format. Currently, approximately 5% of all financial statements filed with the PRH are submitted in iXBRL format.
The API forms part of the PRH’s open data service and is available free of charge.
At Azets, we keep our clients informed about developments in digital financial reporting. We have experience supporting listed companies with digital financial statement reporting and monitor legislative developments in this actively. Learn more about our accounting services