Is a private company required to disclose financial information to the public?

Basically, no. As the name implies, a private company is not required to disclose financial information to the public. This is in stark contrast to public companies, which are required to make quarterly financial statements available to the public.

All U.S. companies, both private and public, are required to file their financial documents with the secretary of state in the state where they incorporated. When a company incorporates, it needs to file articles of incorporation or a certificate of formation, depending on the entity type.

After filing these documents, a company is not required to provide any additional information to the public. All companies need to file quarterly tax estimates with the IRS and a yearly tax return, which contains all of its financial information for the year. However, these documents are not public information and are used to assess tax liabilities for incorporated entities in the United States.

Although member states are free to implement their own disclosure laws, all member states must adopt European Union (EU) law in the form of directives. Public documents that need to be filed with the EU comprise constitutive documents, amendments and information on the authorized representatives of the company for purposes of dealing with third parties.

Similar to the United States, after these incorporation documents have been filed, no financial information is required to be disclosed to the public.