Limited companies

Requirement to maintain accounting records

A Swedish limited company is required to maintain accounting records as of the date on which it is registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket).

The requirement to maintain accounting records implies that the limited company must comply with the Book-keeping Act (bokföringslagen), the Annual Accounts Act (årsredovisningslagen) and the standards of the Swedish Accounting Standards Board (BFN). This means that

• all business transactions must be recorded on a current basis,

• there must be supporting vouchers for all accounting entries,

• accounting information must be archived in an orderly state and in a satisfactory and transparent manner in Sweden for seven years, and

• annual reports must be prepared for each financial year.

Book-keeping

Rules regarding the current recording of transactions, supporting vouchers and archiving, etc. are provided in the BFN guide  Bokföring.

Bokföring, Swedish version

Annual report

The annual report (årsredovisning) of a limited company must be prepared in accordance with the category regulations issued by the BFN, known as “K regulations” (K-regelverk). If the limited company is a smaller undertaking according to the limits set out in the Annual Accounts Act, the company may choose to prepare its annual reports according to K2 – Årsredovisning i mindre företag (BFNAR 2016:10). If the limited company chooses not to apply K2, the annual report must be prepared in accordance with K3 – Årsredovisning och koncernredovisning (BFNAR 2012:1).

• K2 – Årsredovisning i mindre företag, Swedish version
• K3 – Årsredovisning och koncernredovisning, Swedish version

Association law

Rules regarding the limited company form are set out in the Companies Act (aktiebolagslagen). That Act also provides rules on e.g. value transfers, balance sheet for liquidation purposes and auditing.

The Swedish Companies Act (Aktiebolagslagen) , Swedish version