Translate an annual report into German

What changes when an annual report goes into German

An annual report combines narrative, financial tables and charts. In German, each behaves differently.

• Length. German typically runs 20 to 35 % longer than English, and compound nouns hit narrow cells hardest: "R&D expenses" becomes Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaufwendungen. Column headers, chart labels and one-line subheadings overflow first.
• Number format. German swaps the separators: 1,234.5 becomes 1.234,5. Amounts are written 12,5 Mio. € or 3,2 Mrd. €, with the currency after the figure, and percentages as 8,4 % with a space.
• The "billion" trap. An English billion is a German Milliarde; the German Billion means a million million. Getting this wrong in the chairman's statement shifts a figure by three orders of magnitude.
• Dates. 31 December 2024 becomes 31.12.2024; the financial year is the Geschäftsjahr 2024.
• Register. Every noun is capitalised, and the letter to shareholders addresses readers with the formal Sie.

German annual report terminology

The main parts of an annual report have established German equivalents, and the translation should use them consistently throughout:

• annual report → Geschäftsbericht;
• management report / strategic report → Lagebericht (Konzernlagebericht for a group);
• balance sheet → Bilanz; income statement → Gewinn- und Verlustrechnung, abbreviated GuV;
• notes to the accounts → Anhang;
• equity → Eigenkapital; revenue → Umsatzerlöse;
• earnings per share → Ergebnis je Aktie.

Some terms have no exact match. German companies separate the Vorstand (executive board) from the Aufsichtsrat (supervisory board), so a single "board of directors" maps onto neither cleanly; this is worth a careful read. International acronyms such as EBITDA usually stay as they are.

German has only two plural forms (one, other): 1 Standort, 12 Standorte. Headcount lines such as "1,200 employees" are grammatically simple, but the thousands separator still changes.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not

Your report is handled by Métis, Manuce's financial specialist. For a typical document such as a report of around 15,000 words (about 60 pages), the translation is delivered in minutes and kept in your client area.

• Accepted formats: Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF, CSV.
• Returned format: the same as the original, layout included. An Excel workbook of accounts stays an Excel workbook; a Word file stays a Word file.
• Quote: calculated on upload from the exact word count; German is charged at the base rate (×1 coefficient).

What Manuce does not do:

• it cannot read a scanned PDF (an image with no selectable text);
• it does not produce sworn or certified translations: if a registry or authority requires a version certified by an accredited translator, you will need one;
• it does not take glossaries or terminology instructions. To check that a segment or subsidiary name is left untouched, pick a paragraph containing it for the free extract, then review the full translation.

Preparing the file and checking the German version

Before uploading:

• If the report was laid out in desktop publishing software, export it to Word or to a PDF with selectable text. Test it by copying a line from a table.
• Allow spare width in narrow columns and key-figure boxes: a label like Ergebnis vor Zinsen und Steuern rarely fits the space designed for "EBIT".
• If the financial statements sit in a separate Excel workbook, upload that too; cells are easier to check than a PDF.

When the translation arrives, check first:

1. the amounts in the chairman's statement and highlights (Mio., Mrd., separators);
2. consistent labels across contents page, tables and notes (Umsatzerlöse everywhere, not a synonym on page 40);
3. truncated or overflowing lines in tables and charts;
4. the salutation of the shareholder letter and consistent use of Sie.

For a report going to investors or being published, the Professional or Premium level fits best; Essential suits internal reading.

In practice

1. Export the report to Word, Excel or a text-based PDF.
2. Upload it: the quote appears based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free extract, ideally a paragraph with figures and financial labels.
4. Pay, then download the German report in its original format.
5. Review amounts, table labels and the letter to shareholders.