Denmark requires most registered companies to file annual financial statements with the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen). Those statements are held in the Central Business Register (CVR) and are accessible to third parties. Control over a Danish company — who holds economic rights, who can bind the entity, and what the financial position actually is — can be partially read from these filings. The extract does not answer every question, but it answers the right first ones.
What the extract showsFiled annual reports, including balance sheet, income statement, and notes, for companies registered in Denmark. Source: CVR (Centrale Virksomhedsregister) · verified 2026-09-15 Filing obligationApplies to ApS, A/S, and most other registered legal forms. Sole traders (enkeltmandsvirksomheder) below threshold are exempt. Source: Danish Financial Statements Act (Årsregnskabsloven) · verified 2026-09-15 Access conditionCVR data is publicly accessible without registration. What is paid for is the removed path: identification of the correct entity, language, document retrieval, and structured delivery. Source: CVR.dk · verified 2026-09-15 What the extract does not showBeneficial ownership beyond the registered layer, management accounts, interim figures, or any period not yet filed. Source: CVR.dk · verified 2026-09-15This register is public and free of charge. What is paid for is the removed path: registration, national identifier, language, electronic signature, declaration of legitimate interest.
Danish companies file annual reports under the Danish Financial Statements Act (Årsregnskabsloven). The filing class determines the level of disclosure.
Class B companies (small) file a balance sheet, income statement, and limited notes. Class C and D companies (medium and large) file a full set of statements including a management commentary, cash flow statement, and detailed notes on related-party transactions, remuneration, and group structure.
The extract therefore contains:
The filing date and the period covered are both visible in the document. Multiple years can be retrieved to establish a trend.
Source: CVR (Centrale Virksomhedsregister) · extracted 2026-09-15
The angle here is control. Filed financial statements are one layer of the control picture. They show the economic substance of the entity — assets, liabilities, revenue, and profit — and, for larger companies, related-party transactions and group relationships.
For a buyer verifying an object across jurisdictions, the financial statements answer three specific questions. First: is the entity solvent? The balance sheet states equity and liabilities. Second: does the entity have undisclosed related-party exposure? Notes to Class C and D accounts must disclose material transactions with owners, directors, and group companies. Third: does the auditor's report contain qualifications? A qualified opinion or an emphasis-of-matter paragraph is a documented fact, not an inference.
What the financial statements do not answer is who ultimately controls the entity. That question requires the ownership register (ejerregister) and, where applicable, the register of beneficial owners (reelle ejere). Those are separate documents, retrieved separately.
Source: CVR (Centrale Virksomhedsregister) · extracted 2026-09-15
Denmark's filing deadline for annual reports is five months after the financial year-end for most companies. A company with a 31 December year-end must file by 31 May of the following year. Late filing is a registered fact: Erhvervsstyrelsen records overdue filings and can impose compulsory dissolution for persistent non-compliance.
The most recent filed statement is therefore typically six to seventeen months old at the time of retrieval, depending on the year-end and the date of the request. For a company with a non-calendar year-end, the gap may be shorter or longer.
This lag is a structural feature of the source, not a retrieval limitation. An extract ordered today reflects the last filed period, not the current trading position.
Source: Erhvervsstyrelsen (Danish Business Authority) · extracted 2026-09-15
The CVR financial statements record what the company chose to file and what the law required it to file. Several categories of information are outside the ceiling of this source.
Interim figures. No quarterly or half-year statements are filed in Denmark for private companies. The extract covers full financial years only.
Management accounts. Internal management reporting is not filed and is not accessible through any public register.
Group consolidation below the filing threshold. A Danish holding company may consolidate subsidiaries in its group accounts. Subsidiaries that are themselves below the Class B threshold may not file separately, or may file with minimal disclosure.
Beneficial ownership. The financial statements identify the filing entity. They do not identify the natural person who ultimately controls it. The register of beneficial owners (reelle ejere) is a separate source with its own access conditions. Post-CJEU C-37/20, public access to UBO registers across EU member states is restricted by default. Denmark's implementation of this restriction is subject to verification before any statement is made about current access conditions.
Unaudited filings. Class B companies below the audit threshold file unaudited accounts. The extract will state whether an audit was performed. An unaudited filing is a filed document; it is not a verified one.
The extract establishes what was reported. It does not establish what is true.
A filed financial statement may diverge from other observable data. Three patterns appear in cross-border verification work.
Revenue versus VAT turnover. Where VIES or national VAT records are accessible, declared turnover may differ from filed revenue. The financial statements govern the legal record; the divergence is itself a finding.
Registered address versus operating address. The CVR records the registered address. The financial statements may disclose a different principal place of business in the notes. Both are filed facts; neither is conclusive as to where the company actually operates.
Group structure in the notes versus the ownership register. A parent company named in the notes may not match the direct owner recorded in the ejerregister. Intermediate holding layers, nominee arrangements, or recent restructurings can produce this divergence. The financial statements record the position as at the year-end; the ownership register records the current position.
Each divergence is documented and stated in the extract delivered.
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €440 | Most recent filed annual report (one year); filing class identified; auditor's report status noted; delivery in English summary with source document | Prior years; related-party note analysis; divergence check; group structure mapping |
| Standard | €890 | Three most recent filed annual years; trend analysis across periods; auditor's report review; related-party note extraction; registered address verification against CVR | Beneficial ownership layer; interim figures; management accounts; legal qualification of findings |
| Extended | €1,800 | Five years of filed statements; full divergence check across CVR, ownership register, and VIES where accessible; group structure mapping from notes; summary of material qualifications and emphasis-of-matter paragraphs; delivery in structured report format | Beneficial ownership beyond registered layer; management accounts; legal advice; representation |
What legal form must a Danish company have for financial statements to be filed? ApS (private limited) and A/S (public limited) companies are subject to mandatory filing under the Danish Financial Statements Act. Most other registered commercial forms are also covered. Sole traders (enkeltmandsvirksomheder) and certain partnerships below the statutory threshold are exempt. The filing obligation is confirmed at the point of retrieval.
How far back do filed statements go in the CVR? CVR holds historical filings. The depth of the archive varies by company age and filing history. In practice, filings from the mid-2000s onward are typically available in digital form. Earlier periods may exist as scanned documents with lower legibility.
Does a late filing appear in the extract? Yes. Erhvervsstyrelsen records the filing date alongside the document. A gap between the statutory deadline and the actual filing date is visible and is noted in the extract.
Can the financial statements confirm who controls the company? The financial statements identify the filing entity and, for larger companies, disclose related-party relationships and group structure. They do not identify the ultimate beneficial owner. That requires a separate retrieval from the register of beneficial owners (reelle ejere), subject to current access conditions.
Is the CVR data reliable for cross-border due diligence? CVR is an official government register. Filed documents are the legal record of what the company reported. The extract is a retrieval from that record, not an independent audit. Reliability is a function of what was filed, not of the retrieval process.
Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. VLO Law Firm assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@vlolawfirm.com.
Author: Elena Moretti — Partner, Continental Europe, VLO Law Firm