Our financial situation remained stable
Our financial situation remained stable and the PRH achieved most of the financial targets for 2023 agreed between the agency and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The income generated by customer fees was higher than expected. However, expenditure and investment needs are increasing due to the maintenance and updating of essential information systems. The PRH responded to this by increasing customer fees at the start of 2024 and by submitting appropriation proposals for the General Government Fiscal Plan.
The income for 2023 (including net income and appropriations from the Budget) totalled EUR 61,1 million while expenditure amounted to EUR 58.2 million.
Financing structure
The PRH is a net-budgeted agency. This means that most of our operating costs are covered with the fees that we charge for such work as the processing of notifications and applications and for information services. By law, the fees must cover the expenditure incurred by the PRH in carrying out its tasks.
The PRH received EUR 3.4 million in appropriations to cover expenditure arising from the processing of matters related to associations and religious communities. The services performed for these customers are priced below cost for social policy reasons.
The PRH was also granted appropriations for the oversight of foundations (EUR 880,000), maintenance of the register of industrial property attorneys (EUR 80,000) and the monitoring of collective copyright management (EUR 120,000).
The PRH also had access to an appropriation of EUR 2.3 million to cover the costs of auditor oversight and EUR 1.6 million for the compensation of loss of income caused by the unitary patent. EUR 1.5 million was received for the development of the Trade Register.
An appropriation of EUR 1.8 million and deferrable appropriations of EUR 360,000 from 2021 and EUR 1.6 million from 2022 were available for the Real-Time Economy project.
An appropriation of EUR 1.3 million for updating Trade Register systems and online notification and a deferrable appropriation of EUR 3.2 million from 2022 for the construction of the register of beneficial owners were also available to the PRH.
Total operating income and expenditure
According to the income and expenditure sheet, our income from operations totalled EUR 51.2 million, which consisted almost exclusively of income from ordinary operations.
Income was about one million euros higher than in 2022, and the increase was mainly due to the higher volume of change notifications in the Trade Register.
Total operating expenditure excluding depreciation amounted to EUR 58.2 million, which was EUR 4.2 million higher than in 2022. The highest increase was recorded in staff expenses, which rose by EUR 2.8 million. Purchases of services increased more moderately compared to 2022, by EUR 700,000.
Depreciations were lower than in the previous year. This was because the depreciation total of fixed assets with an ending date in 2023 was EUR 2.5 million lower than in the previous year.
Breakdown of income by result area in 2023
Income from operations totalled EUR 51.2 million in 2023 and it was divided by result area as follows:
- Enterprises and Corporations EUR 29.20 million
- Patents and Trademarks EUR 21.89 million
- Other result areas EUR 0.12 million
Expenditure structure in 2023
Expenditure totalled EUR 58.2 million in 2023 and it was divided as follows:
- Staff expenses EUR 32.72 million
- Purchases of services EUR 22.29 million
- Rents EUR 2.25 million
- Other expenses EUR 0.75 million
- Raw materials and consumables EUR 0.17 million
Balance sheet
The balance sheet item ‘Other long-term expenditure’ (EUR 27.6 million) concerns information systems needed in the operations. Of the other long-term expenditure, EUR 18.8 million concerns systems of the Trade Register and the Register of Associations, EUR 6.8 million systems to process patent and trademark applications, EUR 1.2 million the payment processing system, and EUR 800,000 other administrative systems.
Investments in fixed assets amounted to EUR 7.9 million and they are included in the balance sheet under prepaid expenses and work in progress. On the balance sheet date, the most important of them comprised incomplete development projects involving Trade Register systems and online services.
Projects completed during the financial year totalled EUR 18 million. They are included in other long-term expenditure of the balance sheet. The most important completed projects were as follows: database product change, patent processing system, development of system development testing environments, payment processing system and updating of the company and organisation search at ytj.fi.
Current receivables increased by about 0.3 million, mainly as a result of an increase in trade receivables.
The advances received consist of the assets of patent customers. The increase in the advances received compared to 2022 was due to the higher number of users in the patent customer account.
Accrued liabilities increased by EUR 1.7 million compared to 2022.