Financial reporting translation is the process of transferring economic information from annual reports, quarterly reports, interim reports and sustainability reports into other languages whilst maintaining financial accuracy and compliance with accounting standards. It is a specialised form of translation that requires both linguistic expertise and deep financial competence.
What is included in financial reports?
Financial reports contain profit and loss accounts showing revenue and costs, balance sheets showing assets and liabilities, cash flow analysis showing the company’s liquidity, notes with explanations and specifications and management reports with CEO statements and business descriptions. According to the EU’s CSRD Directive, many companies must also include sustainability reporting with information on environment, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) goals. Sustainability reporting follows the ESRS framework with specific requirements for content and terminology.
Challenges in translating financial reports
Financial terminology must be precise, as small differences in word choice can alter meaning. For example, ‘revenue’ and ‘turnover’ differ in certain contexts despite both potentially being translated as ‘omsättning’. IFRS terms have official translations that must be used consistently. Figures, currencies and date formats must be correctly adapted for the target market. Translation often takes place before publication, which places high demands on confidentiality and secure data handling. Fluid Translation is an experienced language partner with 20 years’ experience in financial translation. We use IFRS experts as translators, apply the four-eyes principle with double review, offer copywriting of key texts, work to ISO standards with ISO-certified system support and use secure data transfer and confidentiality agreements as standard. We build client-specific term bases that ensure consistent terminology from report to report. Click to view to our client cases.