In brief

  • Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, the State-owned company that prints school textbooks, has for 2026 revenue of 7.38 million lei and expenditure of 6.63 million. Gross profit is 747,930 lei, and out of it the State budget takes dividends of 345,550 lei. The company receives no subsidy and no transfer: all the money comes from sales.
  • The profit doubles against 2025, although the revenue falls. Last year net profit was 289,630 lei, now it is 628,260, 116.92% more, while total revenue falls by 0.43%. The difference comes from a single line of the annex, „other operating expenses”, which goes from plus 34,000 lei in 2025 to minus 615,000 lei in 2026.
  • The publisher runs with an average of 34 employees, against 42 last year. Average monthly pay rises from 6,979.73 to 8,323.30 lei, by 19.25%. Those concerned are the 34 employees, the Ministry of Education and Research, which exercises the State’s shareholder rights, and the State budget, which collects the dividends. The budget is published on 25 September 2026, with 98 days left of the year it governs.
Act: Order of the minister of education and research no. 3.995/2026, of the minister of finance no. 1.250/2026 and of the interim minister of labour, family, youth and social solidarity no. 899/2026 approving the 2026 revenue and expenditure budget of the company Editura Didactică și Pedagogică — S.A.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 819 of 25 September 2026, pages 14-16
In force from: from publication, 25 September 2026, because Article 12(3) of Law no. 24/2000 on legislative drafting rules says that normative acts, with the exception of laws and ordinances, take effect on the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) unless they themselves lay down a later date, and this order does not

Editura Didactică și Pedagogică is the company through which the State has been printing school textbooks for decades. It has worked as a joint-stock company since 2018, when Government Decision no. 612/2018 turned the old autonomous public undertaking into one, and the shareholder rights are exercised by the Ministry of Education and Research. Its activity depends directly on what is taught in school, and in September 2026 the ministry rewrote the rules under which school syllabuses are drawn up, that is the very basis on which textbooks are ordered. The budget approved now shows a publisher that is small, profitable and shrinking in the number of its people.

The figures of the year: total revenue 7,376,070 lei, of which 7,366,070 from operations and 10,000 from interest. Total expenditure 6,628,140 lei. Gross result 747,930 lei, profit tax 119,670, net profit 628,260. Out of the net profit, 62,830 lei go to the employees’ share in the profit, 345,550 to dividends due to the State budget, and the rest stays with the company as its own source of financing. The investment provided for is 210,000 lei, and the sources for financing it, 499,680.

The comparison with the 2025 budget, approved by orders of the same three ministries and published on 4 November 2025, explains where the jump comes from. Revenue falls from 7,407,850 to 7,376,070 lei, by 0.43%. Expenditure, however, falls from 7,063,050 to 6,628,140, by 6.16%, and the whole difference sits in a single line: „other operating expenses” was 34,000 lei in 2025 and becomes minus 615,000 lei in 2026. An expense written with a minus sign is added to the profit, not subtracted from it. Without that reversal of 649,000 lei, the gross result would have been 98,930 lei, not 747,930. In other words, 86.8% of the gross profit of the year comes from that line, and the annex does not say what it contains.

The calendar deserves a look too. The minister of education signed on 21 May 2026, the minister of labour on 6 July, the minister of finance on 17 September. Between the first and the last signature 119 days went by, and publication came eight days after the last one. The 2025 budget had been signed by the three ministries in fifteen days, between 14 and 29 October 2025, and published on 4 November.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is a ceiling on expenditure. The budget approved by joint order of the three ministries is the limit within which the company can commit expenditure in 2026, on the main categories: 3,231,850 lei for goods and services and 4,001,290 for staff, with a separate ceiling of 210,000 lei for investment.

The second effect is an obligation to pay into the budget. The dividends due to the State budget, 345,550 lei, become a sum to be transferred, and they represent 55.00% of the company’s net profit. The local budget and other shareholders receive nothing, which confirms that the State is the only shareholder that collects.

The third effect concerns the employees. The share in the profit is 62,830 lei, that is 10% of the net profit, the maximum ceiling allowed. Divided by the 34 average employees, it means around 1,848 lei a person a year, before tax.

The fourth effect is one of financial discipline. The order is issued under Government Ordinance no. 26/2013 on strengthening financial discipline at economic operators with State capital, and the indicators in the annex, from average monthly pay to labour productivity, are the ones the company will report at execution.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The first change is at the people. The average number of employees falls from 42 to 34, by 19.05%, and the staff number forecast at the end of the year from 43 to 38. At the same time, expenditure of a salary nature stays practically unchanged, 3,542,780 lei in 2025 and 3,549,810 in 2026, so the same wage bill is divided among fewer people. That is where the rise in average monthly pay comes from, from 6,979.73 to 8,323.30 lei.

The second change is in the structure of the expenditure. Goods and services rise from 3,022,780 to 3,231,850 lei, by 6.92%. Staff costs stay almost identical, 3,994,270 against 4,001,290. The only large movement is at „other operating expenses”, from plus 34,000 to minus 615,000 lei.

The third change is at yield. Labour productivity rises from 176.11 to 216.65 thousand lei per employee, by 23.02%, but the rise comes from dividing the same revenue among fewer people, not from higher sales. Expenditure per 1,000 lei of revenue falls from 953.45 to 898.60 lei.

The fourth change is at the calendar. The 2025 budget was published on 4 November 2025, the 2026 one on 25 September 2026, that is 40 days earlier in the year. The route of the signatures, however, lengthened from fifteen days to 119.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The company asks for no public money. The lines for subsidies and for transfers are empty, and the 7.38 million lei of revenue come from its own activity.
  • The State budget collects instead of paying: 345,550 lei of dividends, plus 119,670 lei of profit tax.
  • The budget appears 40 days earlier in the year than the 2025 one, which leaves more time for execution in the year it governs.
  • There are no overdue payments and no overdue receivables, both lines being empty.
  • Investment rises from 160,000 to 210,000 lei, by 31.25%, and is covered entirely from own sources, with no allocations from the budget.

What remains a problem

  • The profit sits on a line with a minus. The reversal of the line „other operating expenses”, from plus 34,000 to minus 615,000 lei, produces 86.8% of the gross result, and the annex does not show what this position covers.
  • The distribution of the profit does not close. The employees’ share, the dividends and the sum left in other reserves add up to 691,090 lei, 62,830 more than the profit of 628,260 that is being distributed.
  • Revenue is stagnating. In 2025 it was 7.41 million lei, now 7.38, that is a nominal fall in a year in which inflation was not zero.
  • The average staff establishment falls by 19.05% with no explanation in the act and with no expenditure on compensatory payments, that line being empty.
  • The sum of 8,323.30 lei, given in the annex as average monthly pay, cannot be reconstructed from the published lines: expenditure of a salary nature divided by 34 employees and by 12 months gives 8,700.51. The footnote refers to a supporting annex that is not published.
  • The budget of a year is approved when 267 days of it have gone by, and the three ministerial signatures stretch over 119 days.

Practical advice

  1. If you follow public money in State-owned companies, read the line with the dividends due to the State budget. Here it is 345,550 lei, and it is the only flow that actually reaches the budget, alongside the profit tax.
  2. Do not read the profit as a sign of commercial growth. Operating revenue falls, and the jump comes from an expenditure position with a negative value.
  3. Always compare with the previous year’s budget, published in the Official Gazette of Romania as well. Without it neither the reversal of 649,000 lei nor the staff cut can be seen.
  4. Keep in mind that the figures in the annex are in thousands of lei. The line showing 7,376.07 means 7,376,070 lei, not 7,376.
  5. If you are interested in the salaries, ask for supporting annex no. 2. That is where the average pay in the published budget is calculated, and the document does not appear in the Official Gazette of Romania.

Frequently asked questions

How much profit does Editura Didactică și Pedagogică make in 2026?
Gross profit of 747,930 lei and net profit of 628,260 lei, after a profit tax of 119,670 lei. Against 2025, net profit grows by 116.92%.
How much does the State take?
Dividends of 345,550 lei to the State budget, plus the profit tax of 119,670 lei. Local budgets and other shareholders receive nothing.
Does the publisher receive money from the budget?
No. The lines for subsidies and for transfers are empty, and the investment of 210,000 lei is covered from own sources, with no budget allocations.
Why does the profit grow if the revenue falls?
Because the line „other operating expenses” goes from plus 34,000 lei in 2025 to minus 615,000 in 2026. A minus at expenditure increases the result. Without this reversal, gross profit would have been 98,930 lei.
How many people work there?
On average, 34 employees in 2026, against 42 in 2025, and the number forecast at the end of the year is 38, against 43. Average monthly pay per employee goes from 6,979.73 to 8,323.30 lei.
From when does the budget apply?
From publication, 25 September 2026, although it governs the whole of 2026. The order does not lay down a later date, and Article 12(3) of Law no. 24/2000 provides that normative acts, with the exception of laws and ordinances, enter into force on the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania unless they themselves contain another date.
Why do three ministries sign?
Government Ordinance no. 26/2013 requires the budgets of companies with State capital to be approved by joint order of the ministry that exercises the shareholder rights, of the Ministry of Finance and of the Ministry of Labour. Here, the three signatures were given on 21 May, 6 July and 17 September 2026.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • The annex, Row 38 in relation to Rows 32, 33 and 34. The accounting profit left to be distributed is 628.26 thousand lei (Row 32). From it are subtracted the employees’ share in the profit, 62.83 thousand lei (Row 33), and the dividends due to the State budget, 345.55 thousand lei (Row 34), so 219.88 thousand lei should be left for other reserves. The annex writes 282.71, that is exactly the result of subtracting the dividends, without the employees’ share. The three destinations add up to 691.09 thousand lei, 62.83 more than the profit being distributed, and the difference is precisely the employees’ part. In the 2025 budget of the same company, published in Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 1018 of 4 November 2025, the same operation closes: 289.63 minus 28.96 minus 159.30 give exactly 101.37, which is what is written there at Row 38.

Editorial analysis

Editura Didactică și Pedagogică is a small company: 34 employees on average, 7.38 million lei of revenue, 210,000 lei of investment a year. Its budget changes nothing on the scale of public finances. It is still worth reading, because it is a clean example of how much an announced result can depend on a single unexplained line. The gross profit of 747,930 lei doubles against 2025, and the State’s dividend rises in the same proportion, to 345,550 lei. The source of the growth is not the sale of textbooks: operating revenue falls by 30,360 lei against 2025. The source is row 18 of the annex, „other operating expenses”, with the value minus 615,000 lei.

A negative expense is not a mistake in itself. In the budget form for economic operators, this position covers depreciation, adjustments and provisions, and the reversal of provisions set up in earlier years may exceed the depreciation of the year, which gives a negative balance. The consequence, however, is that accounting income from past reversals appears as a minus at expenditure, not as a plus at revenue, and disappears from all the indicators built on revenue. Labour productivity, 216.65 thousand lei per employee, is calculated on operating revenue, so it does not see it. Nor would expenditure per 1,000 lei of revenue, 898.60, show it as such. The only place where it shows is the result, and the result grows by 116.92%.

The second observation comes from the comparison on people. The average number of employees falls from 42 to 34, by 19.05%, while expenditure of a salary nature stays at 3.55 million lei, with a rise of 0.2%. The same wage bill divided among eight fewer people explains the direction of the jump in average monthly pay, from 6,979.73 to 8,323.30 lei, but not its size. It is not a pay rise, it is a concentration of the same sum. What is all the harder to read is that the budget provides for no expenditure on compensatory payments for redundancies, although the establishment falls by eight average posts.

The third observation has to do with the calendar. The three ministerial signatures are given on 21 May, 6 July and 17 September 2026, so the circuit took 119 days, almost eight times longer than the fifteen days in which the 2025 budget was signed. Publication comes nevertheless 40 days earlier in the year, on 25 September, when 267 days of the year governed had already gone by. The company therefore worked for three quarters of a year under a budget approved only now, and the indicators it will report at execution are fixed when 98 days of the financial year remain.

What should be changed

  • The line „other operating expenses” should be broken down when it has a negative value. Three figures, depreciation, adjustments and reversed provisions, would show whether the profit of a year comes from the activity or from an accounting operation, and here the State’s dividend depends on that.
  • The distribution of the profit should be checked arithmetically before signing. The sum of the three destinations exceeds the profit being distributed by 62.83 thousand lei, and the check takes a single addition, one that the form performs on its own in the budget of the same company for 2025.
  • The budgets of State-owned companies should be approved before the year begins. A budget published after 267 of the 365 days have gone by no longer guides any decision, it merely records what has already happened and fixes the dividend.
  • The annex should show the column with the previous year’s actual results. The form has the line, and filling it in would make it pointless to look for the previous year’s budget in another edition of the Official Gazette of Romania for any comparison.
  • Average monthly pay should be reconstructable from the published lines. At present it refers to a supporting annex that is not published, and the resulting figure, 8,323.30 lei, does not match the division of expenditure of a salary nature by the average number of employees.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 819 of 25 September 2026, pages 14-16 16 pages PDF, 143 KB the act starts on page 14

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.