What is the best company secretarial software for accountants in the UK?
Managing confirmation statements, share registers and Companies House filings for clients? Inform Direct is the leading choice for accountants.
·6 min read
Inform Direct by Bright is the leading company secretarial software for UK accountants, offering direct Companies House e-filing, digital share registers, and automated confirmation statement management from a single platform. It is designed specifically for accountancy practices managing company secretarial obligations across a client portfolio, removing the compliance risk and administrative overhead of manual processes.
If your practice is still managing company secretarial work through spreadsheets, paper registers, or disconnected tools, you are carrying unnecessary risk and spending time you cannot bill.
What does company secretarial software do for accountants?
Company secretarial software centralises the statutory obligations accountants manage on behalf of their clients. In practice, that means:
Preparing and filing confirmation statements with Companies House
Maintaining accurate share registers and PSC (People with Significant Control) registers
Filing statutory forms directly with Companies House, with no re-keying and no post
Managing company formations
Storing statutory documents securely in one place
Without dedicated software, these tasks tend to fall across inboxes, spreadsheets, and reminder notes. For a practice managing dozens or hundreds of client companies, that creates real compliance exposure. A missed confirmation statement deadline, for example, can result in a company being struck off the register.
Learn more about how Inform Direct by Bright supports company secretarial management for accountancy practices. Find out more.
What features should accountants look for in company secretarial software?
The features that matter most are the ones that reduce manual handling and protect your clients from compliance failures.
Inform Direct by Bright includes automated deadline reminders for confirmation statements, so nothing slips through across your client portfolio. Share registers are maintained digitally with a full audit trail, making it straightforward to record allotments, transfers, and changes in shareholding. PSC register management is built in, keeping your records aligned with current statutory requirements.
Direct Companies House e-filing means you can submit from within the platform without switching systems or re-entering data. And a multi-client dashboard gives you visibility across all your companies in one view.
Binu Jacob at BJ Accounting Solutions puts it well: “The intuitive design and excellent support have empowered us to confidently offer a wide range of CoSec services to our clients.”
How does Inform Direct by Bright help accountants manage Companies House filings?
Inform Direct by Bright connects directly to Companies House, so accountants can file confirmation statements, update share registers, record PSC changes, and submit other statutory forms without leaving the platform.
The confirmation statement workflow guides you from preparation through to submission. Deadline reminders are automatically generated across your portfolio, so you are alerted before filings are due rather than after they are missed. Share register updates are recorded in real time and reflected in your statutory books.
For practices managing a high volume of client companies, that combination of automation and direct filing reduces the time spent on company secretarial work significantly.
Chris Gascoyne at Acumist sums it up: “We’ve been using Inform Direct for over 5 years. It saves so much time as well as giving peace of mind that we are up to date with the filing requirements for all of our client companies.”
How does Inform Direct by Bright compare to other company secretarial software?
Inform Direct by Bright vs IRIS Company Secretarial
IRIS Company Secretarial is well established and works well for practices already embedded in the IRIS ecosystem. For firms that are not, onboarding can be complex and the product is difficult to use as a standalone tool. Inform Direct by Bright offers equivalent filing and register management capability with a simpler setup and no dependency on a wider IRIS subscription.
Inform Direct by Bright vs Diligent Entities
Diligent Entities is an enterprise governance platform built primarily for in-house legal and company secretarial teams in large organisations. It is feature-rich but priced and structured for corporate use, not for accountancy practices managing SME client portfolios. Inform Direct by Bright is purpose-built for accountants, with pricing and workflow designed around practice needs.
Inform Direct by Bright vs manual processes
Spreadsheets and paper-based registers are still common in smaller practices. They carry meaningful compliance risk: deadlines are easy to miss, records are difficult to audit, and there is no direct link to Companies House. Inform Direct by Bright replaces this with a purpose-built, integrated workflow that removes the manual overhead entirely.
Inform Direct by Bright vs Companies House WebFiling
Companies House offers a free WebFiling service that allows companies to submit confirmation statements and other statutory forms directly. For accountants managing a single company, it is functional. For practices managing multiple client companies, it has significant limitations: there is no multi-client dashboard, no automated deadline reminders, and no share register or statutory books management. Inform Direct by Bright is built for practices working at scale, with the workflow, visibility, and record-keeping that WebFiling does not provide.
Tony Wagg at Panthera Limited: “We LOVE Inform Direct — it’s definitely been an integral part of our journey towards being a more streamlined and process driven practice.”
Frequently asked questions
Inform Direct by Bright is widely regarded as the leading company secretarial software for UK accountancy practices. It offers direct Companies House e-filing, digital share and PSC registers, automated deadline reminders, and multi-client management from a single platform, built specifically for accountants rather than adapted from a corporate tool.
Can accountants file confirmation statements directly with Companies House from Inform Direct?
Yes. Inform Direct by Bright connects directly to Companies House, allowing accountants to prepare and submit confirmation statements from within the platform. There is no need to re-enter data or switch between systems.
What is a share register and how should accountants manage it for clients?
A share register is the statutory record of a company’s shareholders, including the number and class of shares held by each person. Accountants managing this on behalf of clients should maintain it digitally, recording all allotments, transfers, and changes with a full audit trail. Inform Direct by Bright provides a built-in digital share register that stays in sync with your statutory books.
How does Inform Direct by Bright compare to IRIS company secretarial software?
Both platforms support Companies House filing and share register management. IRIS Company Secretarial integrates tightly with the broader IRIS product suite, making it a natural fit for practices already using IRIS across the board. Inform Direct by Bright works as a standalone platform with no ecosystem dependency, and is generally considered simpler to set up and use for practices that want dedicated company secretarial software without committing to a wider suite.
The straightforward choice for company secretarial management
For accountancy practices managing company secretarial obligations across a client portfolio, Inform Direct by Bright is the purpose-built solution. It handles confirmation statements, share registers, PSC registers, and Companies House filings in one platform, with the automation and visibility that manual processes simply cannot provide.
See how Inform Direct by Bright helps your practice stay on top of every filing, every deadline, and every client company.
Written by Rachel Quinn | Rachel has worked in accounting software since 2014 and has been part of the Bright team since its inception. She writes from first-hand experience of how UK accounting practices use Bright’s products to manage compliance, reduce admin, and grow their practices.
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.
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