Keeping company information accurate

Accurate company information depends on a repeatable process. A public register entry, an internal spreadsheet and a signed agreement may each record part of the position. The company should understand which document establishes the event and which filing reports it, rather than assuming all records update automatically.

Set up a reliable baseline

Start with the company number, incorporation documents, current articles, register of members and recent filing history. Check officer details, registered addresses, PSC information and the accounting reference date. Record discrepancies as questions to resolve, with an owner and a target date.

A mismatch may be a delayed filing, a clerical error or a genuine legal dispute. Those possibilities require different responses. Avoid correcting one record merely to match another until the underlying facts have been established.

Capture changes when they happen

Companies House requires notification of specified company changes. Many are event-driven and cannot properly be deferred to the annual review. Make director changes, ownership transactions and address changes trigger a compliance task when the decision is made. ^[1]

For example, the administrator should receive an approved share transaction pack, not learn about a new shareholder from an updated email signature months later. Define who sends the information and who confirms completion.

Use current register requirements

Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer have to maintain separate statutory registers of directors, their residential addresses, secretaries and PSCs. The relevant information must still be registered with Companies House and kept current. The company's own register of members remains required. ^[2]

An old checklist can therefore be misleading in both directions: it may demand an obsolete local register while overlooking a current public filing or the continuing members' register.

Establish a reconciliation routine

• Compare accepted filings with the approved source documents.
• Check totals and rights in the ownership schedule.
• Review registered office and email monitoring arrangements.
• Track unresolved queries and rejected submissions.
• Record who checked the position and when.

Keep access proportionate. Public filing documents and sensitive verification material do not need the same distribution list. Store personal information securely and give advisers the information needed for their agreed work.

Close the loop after a filing

An acknowledgement of receipt may not mean the filing has been accepted. Check the outcome and the resulting register entry. If a submission is rejected, assign the correction immediately rather than marking the original task complete.

Give each record a defined purpose

Use the register of members for membership, accepted Companies House filings for the public reporting position and signed resolutions for decisions. A management cap table may model future investment as well as completed ownership. Label it accordingly. Without that distinction, an administrator can unknowingly file a projected share structure as the current position.

Create a short index connecting each record to its owner and storage location. For example, the finance lead may maintain accounts schedules while a director approves company changes and an adviser submits them. The index should say where the final approved document is held, not merely who usually answers questions about it.

Investigate a discrepancy without overwriting history

Imagine that the internal ownership spreadsheet lists a transfer in March, while the signed transfer document is dated April. Check whether March was an agreed commercial date, a draft date or a simple entry error. Find the evidence of completion and registration before changing either record. Keep a note explaining the conclusion, with links to the supporting documents.

Distinguish an accurate historic entry from an inaccurate current display. A former company name in an old document is normally part of the history. A current invoice using the former name may need updating. Treating every difference as an error can create unnecessary filings and make an otherwise understandable history harder to follow.

Create a change notification habit

Ask the person arranging a transaction to send a concise completion message containing the company number, event date, affected records and document location. Make this part of the transaction checklist. The administrator should not have to inspect every management email to discover that a director resigned or new shares were issued.

Use a separate queue for proposed changes. Marking an item proposed, approved, completed, submitted and accepted distinguishes the important stages. One status called done is too ambiguous when a board approval is complete but the notification has not been accepted. Assign an escalation contact for overdue evidence rather than letting tasks remain indefinitely with an absent employee.

Check controls when people or providers change

When the person maintaining records leaves, transfer access to the actual files and calendars. Test that another authorised person can locate the most recent accepted filing and the document supporting it. Password possession alone does not prove that the handover includes the underlying ownership history or pending queries.

Review the index after a material financing, acquisition or accounting-provider change. The objective is to keep a coherent account of this company as it develops, rather than repeatedly rebuilding its history under deadline pressure.

For a detailed handover, use Company records when changing accountants. Companies House filing review is relevant where you need help reconciling the filing position and organising the resulting company administration tasks.

The practical measure of accuracy is whether another responsible person can reconstruct the current position from the records. A tidy folder is useful only when its contents are complete, consistent and linked to the real decisions taken.