An investigation by the Czech Ombudsman found that that only 28 per cent of entrepreneurs registered with the country’s Commercial Register had filed corporate information into the publicly available Collection of Deeds which collects company documents, such as accounts and accounting statements.

Financial statements

The Ombudsman also found that more than 50 per cent of entrepreneurs had never filed any financial statements into the Collection. And only nine per cent of entrepreneurs filed their financial statements for each year of the company’s existence.
According to Law Now – the information service provided by CMS Cameron McKenna - the Czech Ombudsman’s investigation also attributed faults to the country’s courts which, due to tight budgets and insufficient personnel, are unable to systematically check that entrepreneurs are complying with corporate requirements.

Criminal charges

Law Now says the situation is unlikely to radically change but more rigorous checks and penalties could be imposed to ensure that financial statements are filed into the Collection of Deeds. It added that in extreme cases, the failure to file financial statements into the Collection of Deeds could even result in criminal charges.