International business is commonplace in today’s globalized world. There are now many business corporations that operate across vast geographic regions, spanning a wide variety of cultures and languages. The need to communicate in a multilingual business environment has increased the demand for business and financial translation services. In addition to offering high quality, the providers of these services must show a highly ethical conduct in keeping the confidential business information of their customers safe.
The main challenges in business and financial translation are related with mastering the specific concepts of the professional field, being familiarized with country-specific or region-specific issues, and being able to gain customer trust.
Main Requirements for Financial and Business Translation
As is the case for all translation services that are specific to a professional field, business and financial translation requires expertise on topics such as business management, marketing, accounting, project management, financial management, operations, human resources, outsourcing, corporate law, taxes and supply chains. The following are some of the document types of which we provide business & financial translation services for:
- Periodic or annual reports such as income statements, cash flow statements and balance sheets.
- Auditing and certification reports – Information related to Quality Assurance Systems and certifications such as ISO 9001.
- Business plans, market analysis and financial projections.
- Project-related documentation: Requests for proposals, contracts, bids, project reports, closing documentation.
- Tax-related documentation
- Legal documentation
- Public offerings
- Operating manuals for business procedures, particularly common for franchises
- Corporate communications, including press releases
Typical requirements of the translator itself include professional knowledge on the specific topic, knowledge of country-specific business practices and, of course, a 
strong work ethic due to the sensitive information that will be handled. For the specific case of financial translation, it is also necessary for the translator to have a solid background in finance and mathematics – the translation work may involve detecting and correcting numerical errors, or adjusting the information for the local audience. Furthermore, in some cases it may be necessary for the translator to be certified by a specific legal or financial institution.
Country-Specific Aspects of Business and Financial Translation
It is very important to take location-specific aspects into account when carrying out any business or financial translation:
- Tax regulations – The types of taxes and corresponding rates vary considerably from country to country. In addition, the name of a specific tax may change according to the country. In order to translate tax information effectively, a bilingual accountant who is familiarized with local regulations is required.
- Legal regulations – Corporate law also varies from country to country, requiring the services of lawyers who are familiarized with the local legal framework.
- Finance and banking – Financial institutions and stock markets are regulated at the country or regional level – familiarity with the banking and financial sector is required by part of the financial translators.
Ethical Aspects and Safety of Information
Of all types of translation services, business and financial translation is one of the areas that involves the most sensitive information. For this reason, it is highly recommended to hire the services of a provider that is trustworthy and shows a highly ethical conduct.
One of the most widely used methods to ensure accountability by part of the translation service provide is signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which represents a legally binding document under which the provider agrees to safeguard the privacy of information.
Given the widespread use of communication technologies in the present world, it is also necessary for a provider of business translation services to have a reliable information security system, for the protection against malicious third parties who might intend to steal information for their own purposes. In other words, a translator who will handle sensitive documentation must implement technical security measures in addition to adhering to ethical standards.
Language Translation Tech takes security and confidentiality Serious!