What is a Companies House Search? A Complete Guide to Companies House Search Service

Ryan Patrick

• 9 min read
What is a Companies House Search? A Complete Guide to Companies House Search Service

The Companies House is the UK's registrar of companies. This government-run organisation has registered the company's data, including company structure, regulatory compliance, and financial health. Although the Companies House service is incredibly valuable when searching a company's data, its framework can be difficult.

However, Companies House lacks essential functionality, notably its limited search tool and the fact that most of its data is stored as images. Consequently, extracting data becomes time-consuming and frustrating, often resulting in missed opportunities for valuable insights.

At Incorpuk, we know how the Companies House works, its functionality, and the amount of information you can access. So, in this blog, we will answer common questions you may have while surfing the website. The data you can get and ways to get them.

What's Companies House?

Companies House is the UK's government organisation that registers and dissolves limited companies. It holds company information as mandated in the Companies Act 2006. It contains basic company and directors information, generates a public record on Companies House, and provides various other online services. Investors and professionals use this company's registrar's data to make informed business choices.

This company's registrar has an online platform that allows the public to access the company's information for free.

If you're seeking details about registered companies in the UK, conducting a Companies House search here is how. Let's check a simplified guide on how to do it:

  • Go to the Companies House site
  • Go to the homepage and look for the search section
  • When searching for a particular company, type its name or Company Number into the search field. Companies House enables you to search using company name, officer name, or company number.
  • If you're seeking a company with a commonly used name, enhance your search by including additional information like its location or keywords related to its activities. Doing so can streamline the search results and find an appropriate company more effectively.
  • After providing the necessary information, tap the search button to get the search results. Companies House will present a list of companies matching your search criteria, giving essential details like the company's name, registered office address, and registration number.
  • From the search list, click the company you want to view. It will take you to that company overview page granting you access to comprehensive information and documents submitted to Companies House.

The company overview pages provide details of the following:

  • Company's directors
  • Shareholders
  • Registered address
  • Filing history,
  • Documents like confirmation statements and annual accounts
  • You can download company-specific documents like incorporation documents and annual accounts from the Companies House site if you'd like to view them.
  • Companies House also offers additional services such as Companies House Direct and Companies House Webcheck, which provide free access to more company information.
  • After completing your Companies House search and examining all the details, it's crucial to maintain records of your findings for future use. These records can aid you in decision-making, conduct of due diligence, and continual monitoring of the company's operations.

If you follow the above steps, you can conduct a Companies House search and obtain valuable insights into registered companies in the UK.

What Types of Companies You Can Find on Companies House

Every kind of business, whether a startup or a large corporation, must be incorporated with Companies House. This ensures that all companies operating in the UK, both private and public, have a brief profile stored within the government system.

The companies include:

  • Public limited companies
  • Private companies limited by shares
  • Limited liability partnerships
  • Limited partnerships
  • Private unlimited companies

Is Companies House Data Accurate?

Since the UK government runs Companies House, many think the submitted information is accurate. But, the responsibility lies with the company rather than Companies House.

Companies House doesn't verify the data in company files, meaning there could be incorrect information in the filings uploaded.

Understanding Companies Company Profiles Search Results

Every UK-registered company has a summarized profile, which you can check here. After checking the company overview, where you find the company's details like incorporation date, you will also see the industry in which your company operates through the Standard Industrial Categorisation (SIC codes).

Let's look into what you can find or miss:

1. SIC codes

There are over 600 SIC codes a company director can choose from. These codes explain the nature of the business. One SIC code is enough, but a company can select a maximum of four. SIC codes are excellent company descriptors, but they come with limitations.

What to take caution

Despite containing various business operations, these codes have remained largely unchanged for decades. The revisions have been occurring sporadically since 1948, notably in 1958, 1968, 1980, 1992, 1997, and 2003. Technology changes daily, and many emerging sectors, such as FinTech, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, are not adequately represented within these classifications.

Instead, they are often grouped under broader categories like :

  • Other information technology service activities (62090)
  • Web portals (63120)
  • Business and domestic software development (62012)

Additionally, some SIC codes don't refer to specific sectors but to company status, for example, non-trading (74990) or dormant (99999).

2. Incorporation Data

This is the information the company owner provides during company registration with the Companies House. The information is vital if you want to know how long a company has been running when comparing it with the same-age businesses.

However, you must know the day the company was added to the register doesn't mean the start of the trading date.

What to take caution

Sometimes, company owners reserve the business name for a while before trading commences. This means the incorporation date may appear before the founding date.

In other cases, a company group may consist of several legal entities. The primary parent company might have been formed after other legal entities gained substantial momentum.

3. Company Status

Companies House shows a business legal status instead of its trading status. Companies have different statuses, but here are the most common:

  1. Active: A business is marked as active upon its incorporation and addition to the register, regardless of whether it is not engaged in actual trading.
  2. Administration: When a business cannot pay its debt, it may file for administration to offer legal protection against its creditors. To avoid liquidation, the company must engage a licensed insolvency practitioner who will assume control over the company and its assets. Administrators will use the remaining assets to repay debts to the greatest extent possible if this proves unfeasible.
  3. Liquidation: This is when a company has stopped operating and is not employing. Its assets are used to pay debts, and the remaining money is divided between shareholders.
  4. Dissolution: This is when a business doesn't exist as a legal entity. This process differs from liquidation because only solvent companies are eligible for dissolution.

It's a company that files for liquidation or administration, although sometimes the court may order it to be unable to pay its creditors.

What to take caution

Behind these legal classifications, a more intricate set of circumstances exists. A company might declare its intention to cease operations, yet it may take several months before the legal entity is officially struck off the register.

4. Registered Address

The company-registered address means an official location where notices and letters are sent. This can be an accountant's office, director's address, personal address, or where the business is situated. You can find the company's registered address on its website.

5. Company Filing History

Access the filing history section, and you'll find a comprehensive list of the company's filings arranged in reverse chronological order. Each entry includes the filing date, a brief description, and a link to download the PDF document at no cost. By checking the show filing type box, you can also view the filing code associated with each entry.

What to take caution

Through this, you can download a lot of company information for free, such as financial performance and company directors. However, this information is stored in saved PDF images. This makes it hard to sift through. You can't simply click the "Ctrl-F" function to get the phrase or figure you're seeking quickly, and it may require considerable effort to find the information you want.

More so, the filings have no standard template; each looks different, and even similar filing will differ between businesses or between diverse accounting for the same industry. This makes it hard to scan through documents or compare them side by side.

6. Annual Accounts

Annual accounts reports include the company's assets and money. Every company must submit the annual financial account to companies registrar. However, companies have different requirements depending on their size and employees. '

Here are the types of annual accounts:

  • Small company accounts
  • Medium-sized company accounts
  • Large company accounts
  • Micro-entity accounts
  • Dormant company accounts

Micro entities and small companies must submit a brief version of accounts with a balance sheet with fewer details.

A company should meet two of these conditions to submit micro-company accounts:

  • A turnover of £632,000 or less
  • £316,000 or less on the balance sheet
  • A maximum of 10 employees

A company should meet two of these conditions to submit small company accounts.

  • A turnover not exceeding £10.2 million
  • A balance sheet total of £5.1 million or less
  • An average of 50 employees or fewer

Sometimes, you won't get the figures you're looking for

You must do your calculations when doing a company's financial analysis and due diligence. You need to calculate using the EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization) to assess the actual position of a business. However, these numbers are not included in the reporting.

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Conducting a Companies House search is necessary to help you make informed decisions. Let's check the reasons why you need to do a Companies House search:

  1. Assessing a company's financial health: By looking into a business's financial statements and annual accounts, you can understand a business's liquidity, profitability, and economic health. You can benefit from this information if you're an investor assessing potential opportunities or a creditor evaluating creditworthiness.
  2. Reviewing for insolvency proceedings and legal issues: Companies House records include insolvency filings and legal proceedings like court orders and director disqualifications. When you search, you will see ongoing insolvency proceedings or legal issues that may affect the business's reputation and operation. This data is crucial when evaluating risks and conducting thorough due diligence.
  3. Check directors and shareholders information: When conducting a Companies House search, you will find directors and shareholders information. Through the search, you will identify the company's director and shareholders, review their track record, and understand conflicts of interest. Moreover, you get valuable insights into a company's governance and decision-making dynamics when you learn about the company's ownership structure through the search information.
  4. Mitigating risks: Thorough due diligence is crucial for a company's risk mitigation. Using the Companies House search is vital in this endeavour, helping you identify possible warning signs and evaluate regulatory adherence. Whether engaging in a business collaboration, giving credit, or investing money, you must thoroughly grasp a company's history and financial status for effective risk management.

Companies House Limitations

Companies House is a vital resource to find information about UK businesses.

However, Companies House has some drawbacks, such as:

  1. Information may not be up-to-date: Companies House updates the data regularly, which means it may not be up-to-date. For example, a company's financial information takes several months to file. This may be a challenge if you're seeking a current financial situation.
  2. Limited information: Companies House maintains company data related to legal and regulatory aspects. As a result, significant information about a business's performance, such as its market standing or customer feedback, isn't accessible through this source. Therefore, depending solely on Companies House may not provide a comprehensive overview.
  3. Errors: Although the Companies House tries to be accurate, there might be errors in the data, such as missing information. For example, a business may not include some financial figures. So it's advisable to check information from other sources.
  4. Some businesses have limited reporting requirements: some companies, like overseas companies and partnerships, have limited reporting requirements, meaning you cannot get their complete information from the Companies House.
  5. No real-time monitoring: the data you find in the Companies House search is historical, so you can't access real-time updates on the company you are checking
  6. Quality and viability: Companies House does not assess a company's financial stability or viability. Therefore, conducting thorough research and analysis is crucial before making any decisions.

Winding Up

Although Companies House maintains every company's data, what you can get through the Companies House search service is limited. The information you can search and find its company name and its company number. Although it provides insights into company structure, compliance, and legal proceedings, it doesn't offer up-to-date data on a business's financial performance or market standing.

Finding relevant company information is sometimes challenging because many companies have complicated group structures. They may trade under one name but file their financial accounts under their company name. Despite its drawbacks, Companies House remains an essential tool for risk assessment and due diligence. Still, it should be complemented with information from other sources for a more holistic understanding of a company's background and viability. Do you have any questions about Companies House Search? Kindly contact one of our Incorpuk experts here.