Companies House Check for Accountants: Before Taking On a Client

A Companies House check for accountants means reviewing a UK limited company’s public record before taking it on: its status, filed accounts, charges, director changes and filing compliance. BrightManager’s Business Intelligence Report brings this together in an AI-written briefing, generated from the prospect’s record.

A new enquiry lands in your inbox. The company sounds sensible and the director is friendly, but you know very little else. Before you take them on, the public record is often all you have.

What should an accountancy practice check before taking on a new UK limited company client?

Five areas on the public record tell you most about a business before you commit:

• Status: whether the company is active, or showing signs of trouble such as a proposal to strike it off the register.

• Filed accounts: what the company has reported over recent years.

• Charges: security that a lender has registered against the company’s assets.

• Director and ownership changes: recent changes to directors and to persons with significant control (PSC), the people who ultimately own or control the company.

• Filing compliance: whether accounts and confirmation statements have been filed on time.

None of this replaces your own onboarding process. It gives you a grounded starting point for the question every practice asks: is this a client we want?

Where do you find a company’s public record, and why is it slow to piece together?

Companies House makes this information publicly available, and most practices already use it. Access is not the problem. Assembly is.

You search for the company, leave your practice system, open the filing history, find the latest accounts, check the charges and officers pages, and work out what changed and when. Then the next enquiry arrives and you do it again. Without a standard starting point, the preparation can also differ from one person in the practice to the next.

Which warning signs on the public record matter before you commit?

Four signals are worth a closer look on a first review. They are easy to miss when you are looking at a business for the first time, and they are far more useful before you agree to take a client on than after.

• Charges. A registered charge means a lender holds security over some of the company’s assets. It is not a problem in itself, but it is useful context before a first conversation.

• Director changes. A cluster of recent appointments and resignations can point to a restructure, a sale or a disagreement. It is worth asking about.

• PSC changes. A change in who owns or controls the company is another prompt for a question.

• Overdue filings. Late filing carries real consequences. According to GOV.UK, a private company that files its accounts up to a month late receives a £150 penalty, rising to £1,500 if the accounts are more than six months late. The penalties double if accounts are late in two successive financial years, and GOV.UK states that not filing accounts or confirmation statements is a criminal offence. A company with overdue filings may have a perfectly good reason, but it is worth a question about how filing is handled. For more detail, see Bright’s guide to Companies House fines and penalties.

What do three years of filed accounts tell you about a prospect?

A single year of accounts is a snapshot. Three years show direction. Net assets, cash at bank, profit or loss and turnover across that period show whether a business is growing, steady or shrinking.

Two cautions apply. First, coverage depends on what each company has filed. Some companies file less detail than others, so a figure such as turnover is not always there. Second, accounts look backwards. Treat the trend as a source of questions for the first meeting, not as a conclusion.

How does the Business Intelligence Report in BrightManager help?

If you manage prospects and clients in BrightManager, you can now run this kind of check from inside the product. From a prospect or client record, you generate a Business Intelligence Report with a single action. It is an AI-written briefing for a UK limited company, built on Companies House data only, and it has four parts:

• Company snapshot: name, company number, incorporation date, status, registered address, SIC code (the Standard Industrial Classification code that describes what the company does), company type and charity status.

• Red flags panel: scored checks across charges, director changes, PSC changes and filing compliance, each with a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rating.

• Financial health summary: up to three years of net assets, cash at bank, net profit or loss and turnover where available, with trend indicators.

• Conversation starters: two to three talking points based on that company’s financial data and red flag status.

The report is generated on demand for one company at a time, and it is saved against the prospect or client record so you can come back to it.

Three limits are worth knowing. It covers UK limited companies only. Companies House is its only data source, so you may still want other information on the prospective client. And it supports your professional judgement: it does not replace your research or tell you what to do.

How can you go into a first conversation prepared?

The conversation starters are prompts, not recommendations. They give you a way into the first meeting that reflects what the record shows, such as a change in directors or the direction of cash at bank, while you decide what matters.

The same report can be generated from an existing client’s record ahead of a review. The first meeting with a prospect is where it is likely to help most, because that is when the public record is often all you have.

If you manage prospects in BrightManager, [see how the Business Intelligence Report works](CTA URL to confirm).

Frequently asked questions

Does BrightManager have AI?

Yes. BrightManager includes the Business Intelligence Report, an AI-written briefing on a UK limited company, generated from the prospect or client record. It supports your professional judgement and does not replace it.

How does BrightManager use Companies House data?

The Business Intelligence Report draws solely on Companies House data. You generate it from the prospect or client record in BrightManager, so the briefing sits alongside the record it relates to.

What is the Business Intelligence Report in BrightManager?

It is a BrightManager feature that generates an AI-written report on a UK limited company held as a prospect or client. It covers a company snapshot, a red flags panel, a financial health summary and conversation starters, and it uses Companies House data only.

What red flags can you find on a company’s Companies House record?

The report checks charges, director changes, PSC changes and filing compliance. Each check carries a Red, Amber or Green rating, so you can see where to look first.

How do you check a company’s financial health from its filed accounts?

Up to three years of filed accounts show trends in net assets, cash at bank, profit or loss and turnover. The figures depend on what the company has filed, so turnover is not always available.

Explore the Business Intelligence Report in BrightManager.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.