Companies House accounts search

What company accounts are on the register

Filing accounts is a legal obligation, and the register records the accounts type filed, the date they were made up to, the date they were filed and the next due date. What the accounts themselves contain depends on the size of the company.

This matters because expectations often outrun reality. Most UK companies are small or micro-entities, and their filed accounts are far shorter than people expect.

• Micro-entity accounts — a very short balance sheet and little else
• Small company accounts — abridged or filleted, often no profit and loss account
• Medium and large accounts — fuller disclosure, including a directors' report
• Dormant accounts — filed by companies that did no business in the period
• Group accounts — consolidated figures where a group files them

What the accounts dates tell you

• Made up to — the period end the accounts cover
• Filed on — when Companies House received them
• Next accounts due — the deadline for the following set
• Overdue — filed after the deadline, which is recorded and visible
• Accounting reference date — the company's chosen financial year end

Reading a filing pattern

A company that files close to every deadline, or late repeatedly, is telling you something about how it is administered. It is not proof of financial trouble, but it is a pattern worth noticing when you are deciding how much credit to extend or how much to rely on a counterparty.

Equally, a first-year company has no filing history yet, which is normal rather than suspicious.

What you can see free here

The free company summary confirms the entity itself. Accounts and confirmation statement dates and the filing position are included in the optional PDF report, and are also published free by Companies House directly.

• Registered company name
• Company registration number
• Company status, such as active or dissolved
• Incorporation date
• Company type
• Jurisdiction
• Registered office address
• Previous company names
• Nature of business and SIC codes

What accounts will not tell you

• Turnover and profit are usually absent from small company filings
• Figures are historic, often a year or more old by the time you read them
• There is no credit score, credit limit or payment behaviour data
• Nothing in accounts confirms current solvency
• Accounts are prepared by the company, not verified by Companies House

Getting the accounts position in one document

The optional UK Company Information Report brings the accounts and confirmation statement position together with officers, ownership, charges and a filing history summary, in one dated PDF.

• Everything in the free company summary
• Current and former officers, with appointment and resignation dates where recorded
• Persons with significant control recorded on the register
• Accounts and confirmation statement dates and filing position
• Registered charges, and whether they are outstanding or satisfied
• Insolvency information where it exists
• A filing history summary
• A dated, formatted A4 PDF you can download, print, email and keep

Free website search compared with the paid PDF report

Searching this site and viewing a company summary is free. The optional PDF report is paid, and what you are paying for is convenience: retrieval, formatting, a dated snapshot and a document you can download and keep. The underlying information is public and is also available directly from Companies House at no charge.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Check Company AccountsHow UK company accounts appear on the public register, what micro-entity, small, dormant and full accounts mean, and how to check accounts filing dates.
• Check Filing HistoryHow to read a UK company's filing history, what the common filing types mean, and what a company's filing pattern does and does not tell you.
• Check Company ChargesWhat registered charges and mortgages on a UK company mean, the difference between outstanding and satisfied charges, and how to check them on the public register.
• Download Company ReportDownload a formatted PDF report on any UK registered company, covering officers, ownership, filing position and charges, with the retrieval date printed on every page.
• Company reportsThe optional downloadable PDF report and what it costs.
• Sample Company ReportSee the structure of the UK Company Information Report PDF section by section, page by page, so you know exactly what you receive before you order one.