How to check a competitor in the KRS in one hour
A competitor's financial statements are public and free, yet most companies never open them. Here are four things to check in them.
1. How do you assess a competitor's revenue growth?
Compare revenue over three years. If it is falling while the market is growing, the competitor is losing share.
2. What does operating margin tell you about a competitor?
Operating profit divided by revenue shows whether the competitor can afford to cut prices.
3. How do you check a competitor's headcount?
You will find the number of employees in the notes to the financial statements. Revenue per employee tells you how efficiently the company operates.
4. What do changes in the board and among shareholders signal?
A new management board or a new investor often signals a change of strategy within a year.
5. Where to find data on a competitor
You need two free services run by the Polish Ministry of Justice. In the KRS company search (Wyszukiwarka Podmiotów KRS) you enter the company name, tax ID (NIP) or KRS number and download a current or full extract as a PDF. The full extract shows the whole history of changes to the board, shareholders and share capital.
Financial statements are in the Financial Documents Repository (Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych, RDF). Since October 2018, companies have filed them electronically, usually as an XML file, and the RDF viewer displays it in readable form. The statements are in Polish. Ultimate beneficial owners are listed in the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR).
6. How to do it in one hour
7. What to compare between competitors
8. What the KRS will not tell you
The data lag behind. A company approves its statements within six months of the end of the financial year and files them with the KRS within 15 days of approval. Results for a calendar year usually appear in July of the following year.
Micro and small companies may file simplified statements with fewer details. Sole traders and civil-law partnerships are not in the KRS: they are registered in CEIDG and do not publish statements. In corporate groups, sales may sit in a different company from the one you are looking at, so check the consolidated statements too. If section 3 shows no statements filed for recent years, that is information in itself.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to check a competitor in the KRS?
Yes. The KRS and the Financial Documents Repository are public registers. Anyone can download the extract and financial statements of any company free of charge.
How much does a KRS extract cost?
An extract downloaded online from the KRS company search is free.
What if I have a dozen competitors?
Then it is worth putting the data into one table and adding their offer, prices and marketing. That is what our competitive intelligence service does: 5–10 companies, finances from the KRS, offer, sales channels, visibility in Google and AI answers, and recommendations, in 15–20 working days.