The directors are responsible for preparing the company’s accounts, even if they delegate this task to the company’s accountants. It is the directors who approve the accounts and authorise for them to be signed.

You can look up your company’s Accounting Reference Date on the Companies House website.

Look up your company here.

The vast majority of companies’ accounting periods end on their Accounting Reference Date. However it is possible that your company’s accounting period will end on a different date.

All companies let HM Revenue & Customs know when their first accounting period ends on their ‘Corporation Tax -New Company Details’ form (CT41G). Please refer to the ‘HMRC Forms’ guidance for further details.

When HMRC receive the above form they will write to the company confirming the date on which the company’s first accounting period ends.

Accounting periods usually last twelve months, for example from 5th February 2022 to 4th February 2023. Accounting periods can be shorter than 12 months, but not longer.

Don’t confuse the company’s accounting period with the tax year, which runs from 6 April one year to 5 April the next. A company’s accounting period can be set and changed by the company; it could start and end on any day of the year.

If an accountant prepares your company’s accounts he will usually file copies with Companies House and HMRC as part of his service. Make sure that you confirm that he is going to do this.

Companies House – All companies must file their accounts with Companies House.

HM Revenue & Customs – A copy of the company’s accounts should be sent to HMRC along with the company’s corporation tax return and computations.

Other governing bodies – If the company is regulated by another body, such as the Charity Commission, it may have additional filing obligations.

The filing deadline at Companies House depends on whether the company is filing its first set of accounts, or a later set.

First Accounts

A company’s first accounts normally cover:

• the period from incorporation to the first day of trading (commencing business); and
• the first 12 months of trading.

In other words the first set of accounts normally cover a period of more than 12 months. Where this is the case, account must be filed with Companies House:

• within 21 months of the company incorporating;
• in the case of PLCs, within 18 months of incorporating,

or, if longer, 3 months from the company’s Accounting Reference Date.

In the unlikely event that the company’s first set of accounts only cover a period of 12 months then the deadline for filing those accounts is the same as it will be for subsequent accounts.

Subsequent Accounts

The second set of company accounts (and all others after that) must be filed with Companies House:

• within 9 months of the company’s Accounting Reference Date; or
• within 6 months in the case of a PLC.

If a company changes its Accounting Reference Date to a date in the past it will have a minimum of 3 months to file accounts from the date on which the change was made.

Please note that a company cannot change its Accounting Reference Date after the deadline for filing accounts made up to the Accounting Reference Date has passed.

Companies need to file the following with HMRC:

• company accounts;
• a tax return (Form CT600); and
• computations showing how the accounts relate to entries made on the tax return,

within 12 months of the end of the company’s accounting period.

HMRC will remind the company of this obligation by sending a ‘Notice to deliver a company tax return’ to the registered office shortly after the end of each accounting period.

The company is required to provide every shareholder (also known as a member) and every director of the company with a copy of the accounts.

In the unlikely event that the company has issued debentures the holders of those debentures would also have to be provided with a set of accounts.

Not necessarily. Small (defined below) and medium sized companies may choose to file abbreviated accounts with Companies House. Abbreviated accounts contain less information than the set of accounts which the company provides to HMRC, the shareholders and the directors.

Abbreviated accounts usually consist of an abbreviated balance sheet and notes. They do not include a profit and loss account.

In order to change a company’s Accounting Reference Date the following two steps are necessary:

• the board of directors (or if the company has only one director that director) should resolve to change the Accounting Reference Date and record that resolution in writing; and
• a change of accounting reference form (Form 225) should be completed and filed at Companies House.

We can provide all of the documentation and make the appropriate filing on your behalf.

If you are interested in this then please contact us.

‘Small’ companies can actually be quite large. A small company satisfies at least two of the following:

• an annual turnover of no more than £6.5 million;
• a balance sheet total of no more than £3.26 million;
• no more than 50 employees (on average).

However, please note that the following types of company are not allowed to prepare small company accounts, even if they are ‘small’:

• PLCs;
• companies with shares or debentures listed on a stock exchange;
• certain types of financial service company (including banking and insurance companies); and
• any company in a group with any of the above types of company.

Small companies may prepare simpler, less detailed accounts than larger companies. These accounts are known as ‘small company accounts’.

Small companies may also file an abbreviated version of their accounts at Companies House.

If all of the shareholders of your company are individuals (as opposed to companies) then your company is not a subsidiary.

If your company does not own shares in any other company then it is not a parent company.

If your company is neither a parent or a subsidiary company then it cannot be a member of a group of companies.

In more detail

Your company may be in a group of companies if:

• the majority of its shares are owned by another company (or it is otherwise controlled by a company); or
• it owns the majority of shares in another company or companies (or otherwise controls those companies).

Groups of companies are obliged to draw up accounts showing the financial performance and activities of the entire group in the accounting period. They will show, for example, the total turnover and expenses of the group.

However, Small groups are not obliged to prepare group accounts.

Small groups meet at least two of the following conditions:

• group turnover less than £6.5 million net (£7.8 million gross);
• group balance sheet total £3.26 million net (£3.9 million gross); and
• total number of employees less than 51 (on average),

Also, no member of a Small group can be:

• a PLC;
• a company with shares or debentures listed on a stock exchange; or
• certain types of financial service company (including banking and insurance companies).