What to do after incorporation

The incorporation certificate is the beginning of running a company, not the end of the setup process. Use the first weeks to establish financial controls, practical access to official communications and a clear division of responsibilities between founders and advisers.

Check the registration record

Compare the accepted name, company number, registered office and officer information against the application. Save the formation documents and record who controls the registered email and filing access. Correct discrepancies through the proper process rather than allowing inconsistent details to spread to banks and customers.

Put the money arrangements in place

Arrange an account suitable for the company and make clear whether initial funds are share subscriptions, director loans or another form of finance. Record business expenses paid personally so the accounting treatment can be agreed. The company's money is separate from the owner's personal funds. ^[1][3]

Set a basic payment approval process. Even a two-person startup benefits from agreeing who can authorise a purchase, sign a contract or change supplier bank details.

Organise records from the first transaction

Keep invoices, receipts, contracts and records of significant decisions. Agree a bookkeeping routine and a secure storage location that remains accessible if one founder or adviser leaves. Company and accounting records support both statutory reporting and everyday management. ^[2]

A bank statement alone may not explain what was purchased, whether VAT applies or why a payment was made. Retain the underlying evidence rather than planning to reconstruct it at year end.

Confirm tax and operational requirements

Establish the company's HMRC access and assess when it becomes active for Corporation Tax. Consider VAT, PAYE and other registrations where the facts require them. Check any sector licence, insurance, data protection or premises requirement separately from incorporation. ^[1]

Turn responsibilities into a calendar

• Allocate an owner for each recurring filing and payment.
• Record the first accounts and confirmation statement dates.
• Agree deadlines for sending records to the accountant.
• Monitor official post and the registered email.
• Review the calendar when staff, activities or ownership change.

A useful first-month outcome

Use the first week to establish control

Start with access rather than buying more software. Confirm who can see the registered email, receive official post and retrieve the accepted formation documents. Identify the authorised bank applicants and the person responsible for setting up bookkeeping. If an agent created an account, establish the handover process and company access before the engagement ends.

Prepare a short register of live commitments. Include contracts signed by the company, deposits paid, subscription renewals and any founder expenditure awaiting classification. Mark arrangements entered into before incorporation for separate review. This gives the accountant and directors a factual opening position instead of a collection of unexplained transactions.

Use the second week to establish a transaction routine

Choose how invoices will be numbered, where purchase receipts will be stored and how expenses will be approved. Decide who checks that a customer has paid and how overdue invoices will be followed up. Set a regular bookkeeping appointment in the diary even if there are only a few transactions initially.

An illustrative consultancy might issue its first invoice before receiving any supplier bills. It should still record the contract, delivery milestone, invoice and expected payment date. When payment arrives, match it to the invoice. If a customer pays a deposit, explain the underlying arrangement to the bookkeeper rather than treating every receipt as identical.

Set approval rules before the first large payment

Agree which person can approve ordinary expenditure and which commitments require a joint decision. Include new supplier bank details, borrowing, long subscriptions and payments to founders. Keep the method proportionate: the point is to make authority clear and reduce misunderstandings, not to create paperwork that nobody follows.

For a two-founder company, decide what happens if one founder is unavailable when a time-sensitive payment arises. A pre-agreed authority limit can be more useful than sharing account credentials or approving an unexplained transfer after it has already happened. Use the bank's supported access arrangements for each authorised person.

Hold a thirty-day setup review

At the end of the month, compare the bank transactions with the records and investigate gaps. Confirm that official communications have reached the right inbox or address. Ask whether any promised adviser action remains unconfirmed, including tax access or preparation of a filing schedule.

Review operational permissions against the actual launch. A change from consulting to employing staff or holding customer stock can introduce questions not considered at incorporation. Allocate each outstanding action, its dependency and the evidence needed to close it. A list saying 'accountant dealing with it' is less useful than identifying the precise return, registration or decision and the date by which confirmation is expected.

Keep the resulting action list with the formation file. The company should then have a repeatable routine for money, records and decisions rather than a one-off setup checklist that is never opened again.

By the end of the first month, you should be able to answer who controls the accounts, where records are kept, what the company has committed to and when the next statutory action is due. If those answers depend entirely on one person's memory, the setup needs more work.

Explore new company compliance planning to discuss an organised handover from incorporation to ongoing administration.