For Your Business
Company Accounts
Every limited company registered at Companies House must file annual accounts – a statutory set of financial statements that tells HMRC and Companies House what the company earned, spent, and owned over the year. We prepare and file accounts for limited companies across Yorkshire and the wider UK, including single-director consultancies, staffed agencies, property-holding companies, and family-run trading businesses.
In a nutshell: we take your records for the year, prepare the statutory accounts, make sure they’re technically accurate and properly formatted, file them at Companies House and HMRC, and tell you what everything means in plain English. Fixed fee, agreed upfront.
Do You Actually Need an Accountant For Your Company Accounts?
Technically, you can prepare your own if you know what you’re doing. In practice, filing statutory accounts needs you to apply UK accounting standards (FRS 102 or FRS 105 for micro-entities), handle depreciation and accruals, reconcile the director’s loan account, get the balance sheet to balance, and file in iXBRL format – a data format HMRC requires that you cannot produce in Word.
Once a company has any complexity at all – a mix of income types, capital purchases, a director’s loan, multiple shareholders, or simply a year with anything unusual in it – the accounts take professional preparation. We get them right, we explain what they mean, and we make sure the figures that feed your Company Tax Return are correct before we file anything.
What We Prepare
The statutory annual accounts for a UK limited company consist of:
- Profit and loss account - what the company earned and spent during the year
- Balance sheet - what the company owns and owes at the year-end date
- Notes to the accounts - the detail behind the headline figures: accounting policies, fixed asset breakdown, director’s loan position, related party transactions where applicable
- Directors’ report - a brief narrative covering the company’s activities and outlook (micro-entities can opt out)
For most small companies and micro-entities, we prepare and file abbreviated accounts at Companies House (so competitors and suppliers can’t see your full profit and loss) and full accounts at HMRC alongside the CT600. We make sure both sets are consistent and filed on time.
If your company is growing toward the audit threshold, we’ll have that conversation well in advance.
What About Bookkeeping?
Accounts are only as accurate as the records that feed them. We work best when the bookkeeping is clean and up to date throughout the year – whether you handle it yourself in Xero or FreeAgent, use Dext to organise receipts, or have us take care of the bookkeeping entirely.
See our Bookkeeping page for the details. If your records arrive in a state that needs work, we’ll sort it – but we’ll tell you what it costs before we start.
The Filing Deadlines
Two deadlines, two different bodies:
Companies House: accounts are due 9 months after the end of the company’s accounting period for private limited companies. Miss it, and Companies House charges automatic late filing penalties – and publishes a notice on the public register.
HMRC: the Company Tax Return (CT600) and accompanying accounts are due within 12 months of the accounting period end. Corporation tax itself is payable 9 months and 1 day after the period end for most SMEs.
We request your records well in advance. Miss a Companies House deadline and it shows up when someone Googles your business. We don’t let that happen.
How it Works
We offer a pre-year end meeting. Every business client gets a pre-year end meeting – a chance to look at where you’re heading before the year ends. It’s where we advise on funding, growth, reducing your tax bill, or whatever’s on your mind. We also offer complementary tailored advice via email, video, phone, or in person (over a coffee). Most clients tell us it’s the most valuable service we offer.
We agree on the timetable. Every company has its own year-end – not a shared national deadline. We note yours and start asking for your records a sensible time before we need them.
We prepare and review. Your bookkeeping records (Xero, FreeAgent, Dext, or a spreadsheet) feed the accounts. We go through the figures, handle any unusual items, and put together a clear pack for you to review.
We file and explain. Once you’ve approved, we file at Companies House and HMRC. If there is anything unusual, or you’re new to accounts, we can have a meeting or call to run through the numbers.
Why Clients Stay With us
We’ve been preparing company accounts for businesses since Stacey Mcveighty FCCA founded the practice in 2014. Today, we look after around 800 clients from our office in Fulford. We’re ACCA-accredited, and we hold 38 five-star reviews on Google, mostly from clients who’ve been with us for years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Micro-entity accounts (FRS 105) are available to companies that meet at least two of the following: turnover below £1,000,000, balance sheet total below £500,000, and no more than 10 employees. They’re simpler to prepare and allow you to file minimal information at Companies House. Small company accounts (FRS 102 Section 1A) apply to companies above those thresholds but still below the audit threshold. We assess which applies to you at the start of each engagement and explain what the difference means in practice.
Automatic late filing penalties start the day after your deadline: £150 for up to one month late, rising to £1,500 for over six months. Companies House also publishes a notice on the company’s public register that’s visible to anyone who looks you up. If you’ve missed a deadline or are about to miss one, get in touch. Late is recoverable - the penalty is avoidable if we move quickly.
Yes. A dormant company still needs to file dormant accounts at Companies House and a nil CT600 at HMRC. A trading company with a loss still has a filing obligation. The only exception is a company that has formally applied to Companies House to be struck off. If your company is dormant and you’re not sure what to do, drop us a message, and we’ll tell you in 2 minutes.
Yes. We handle the transfer, contact your existing accountant, obtain the handover documents, and pick up where they left off. Most switches occur after getting a nasty tax surprise, but we can help you change at any time of year. We’ve done this plenty of times – including for companies whose previous accountant let a filing deadline slip without telling them.
For most small companies: your bookkeeping data from Xero, FreeAgent, or Sage (or a spreadsheet if you keep manual records), bank statements for the year, digital copies of invoices for major capital purchases, any loan documents. Our online checklist walks you through exactly what to send and how to send it.
Ready to get your company accounts sorted?
Three ways to start. Whichever’s easiest.
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