Robert Brown (X) Jul 28, 2012:

vortragen This might be helpful: http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.net/d/gewinnvortrag/gewinnvo...

and also: http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.net/d/gewinnverwendung/gewin...

I think vortragen has got to be 'to carry forward' in the context, even though the concept is not something we have in UK GAAP or IFRS (presumably not in US GAAP either though I'm not as familiar with that as the other two). We transfer any profits not distributed as dividends to profit and loss reserves (aka accumulated profits) but don't have a separate option to carry them forward in some other way.

I think I'd end up with something like "...profit for the year plus profits brought forward, less losses brought forward...", so yes, more or less what you said.

gangels (X) (asker) Jul 28, 2012:

Thanks, Robert for ABRA but totally over my head. It's only about a partnership amending its bylaws for entry into the trade register. I just call it 'annual surplus and retained earnings less any loss-carryforward'. Watcha think?

gangels (X) (asker) Jul 28, 2012:

Vortrag/vortragen Well, I am asking about the specific meaning of Vortrag. That would be carryforward (specifically loss-carryforward, never heard of profit-carryforward, though there may be such animal). In the US, you can roll over or defer losses (to charge against future earnings), but gains are taxable in the financial year they are realized, so profit-carryforward is an oxymoron, in my opinion, though I'm not an accountant. Just wonder if there is a German Buchhalter who would know the meaning of this German accounting rule.

Robert Brown (X) Jul 28, 2012:

Unclear which term you are asking about It be helpful if you could pick a specific term from your excerpt that you would like a translation for. In my answer I've assumed that you're asking about Gewinn- bzw. Verlustvortrag but it's not very clear.

See KudoZ rules for askers: http://www.proz.com/?sp=siterules&mode=show&category=kudoz_a...

writeaway Jul 28, 2012:

Vortrag / vortragen or Jahresüberschuß/Gewinnvortrag. Which one is the term being asked? Would it be better to get an explanation in German (ie make it a German monolingual question)? Do you need an explanation of the German or do you need translations into English?