You can find turnover, revenue and profit for some Irish companies in their filed financial statements, but not every public filing contains a profit and loss account. Start with the exact CRO number, identify the latest accounts and financial year end, then check whether the company filed full, abridged, micro or group accounts. Never treat a missing turnover figure as zero turnover.
Direct answer
Search the company, open its latest financial statements and look for “turnover” or “revenue” in the profit and loss account and notes. Profit may be labelled operating profit, profit before tax, profit after tax or profit for the financial year. If the public accounts are abridged and omit the profit and loss account, the true figures cannot be calculated reliably from the balance sheet alone.
First confirm the company and reporting period
Trading names are often different from legal company names, and a group can contain several Irish entities. Confirm the company name and CRO number shown on the contract, invoice or website. Then record the accounts’ financial year end, approval date and filing date. The figures describe a historic period, not the company’s position today.
Use the company profile to locate its filing timeline and latest available financial period. If the business is part of a group, check whether the document contains standalone entity accounts or consolidated group accounts. Our guide to finding parent and subsidiary companies explains why the reporting perimeter matters.
Turnover, revenue and profit are different figures
| Term | What it usually means | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover or revenue | Income from ordinary activities recognised during the period | Is it company-only or group revenue, and is the accounting policy comparable? |
| Gross profit | Revenue less cost of sales where that format is presented | Has the gross margin improved or deteriorated? |
| Operating profit | Profit from operations before the relevant finance and tax items | Are exceptional or non-recurring items included? |
| Profit before tax | Result after finance items but before tax | Did interest expense materially change the result? |
| Profit after tax | Result after the tax charge or credit | Does it reconcile to retained earnings after dividends and adjustments? |
| Cash generated | Cash-flow measure, not an accounting profit | Did reported profit convert into operating cash? |
The Companies Act formats use “turnover”, while financial reporting frameworks and company documents may use “revenue”. The label alone is not enough: read the accounting policy and notes to understand what is recognised, whether the figure includes agency or principal transactions and whether a new revenue policy changed comparability.
How to find turnover and profit step by step
- Verify the legal entity. Match the CRO number rather than relying on a brand name.
- Open the latest accounts. Note the period start, period end and whether the comparative period has the same length.
- Identify the filing regime. Look for full, abridged, small-company or micro-company statements and any audit-exemption wording.
- Find the profit and loss account. Search the document for turnover, revenue, operating profit, profit before taxation and profit for the financial year.
- Read the notes. Check revenue recognition, segment or geographic information, exceptional items, related parties and group disclosures.
- Compare at least two periods. Calculate growth and margins only when the periods and accounting perimeter are comparable.
- Reconcile to cash and balance sheet movement. Profit that remains in debtors or inventory has a different risk profile from collected cash.
Why the public accounts may not show turnover
Irish company law allows qualifying companies to file reduced information. Small companies can file abridged financial statements, while micro companies can use a more limited regime. A filed balance sheet may therefore be available without the full profit and loss account. Holding-company relief and other lawful presentation choices can also affect what appears.
Do not reverse-engineer turnover from debtors, VAT, payroll, total assets or corporation tax. Those figures can support questions, but none provides a dependable sales number. A company with no turnover disclosed may still trade substantially. Read how to assess a small company with limited public accounts before drawing a conclusion.
Calculations that make the figures useful
- Revenue growth: current-period revenue minus prior revenue, divided by prior revenue.
- Gross margin: gross profit divided by revenue, where both are disclosed and comparable.
- Operating margin: operating profit divided by revenue.
- Net margin: profit after tax divided by revenue.
- Debtor days: a rough estimate using trade debtors and credit sales, with care over VAT and period-end effects.
- Interest cover: an operating-profit measure divided by finance cost, using a clearly defined formula.
Ratios are prompts, not verdicts. A low-margin distributor and a software company should not be judged against the same margin. Acquisitions, disposals, a 53-week period, changes in accounting policy and group restructuring can all distort a simple year-on-year percentage.
Worked interpretation example
Suppose a company reports revenue rising from €4.0 million to €5.0 million, while operating profit falls from €320,000 to €150,000 and trade debtors rise sharply. Sales grew 25%, but operating margin fell from 8% to 3%. The result is not “good” or “bad” from revenue alone. You would ask whether costs increased temporarily, customers are paying more slowly, revenue recognition changed, or the company accepted weaker-margin work to grow.
Next compare cash, creditors, borrowing and post-year-end trading. Our guide to checking an Irish company’s financial health shows how to combine these signals rather than scoring one figure in isolation.
Questions to ask when the decision is material
- Are these standalone or consolidated figures?
- How old is the financial year end?
- Was the period longer or shorter than the comparative?
- Are exceptional, grant, fair-value or disposal gains supporting profit?
- How much revenue is concentrated in a small number of customers?
- Did profit convert into cash after the year end?
- Are current management accounts consistent with the filed trend?
- Does the audit report contain a qualification, emphasis or going-concern disclosure?
Sources and editorial review
This guide was reviewed on 24 August 2026 using CRO guidance on financial statement requirements, the statutory balance-sheet and profit-and-loss formats in Schedule 3 of the Companies Act 2014, and the Financial Reporting Council’s current FRS 102 materials. It is general information, not accounting, investment or credit advice.