1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190 
Upcoming revision to filing times Historically, private limited companies in
Page 61
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the UK had to file their annual accounts within 10 months of the end of their financial year. For public companies it was seven months. This is still the case now, but from next year these periods are being reduced, which will hopefully result in credit checks becoming even more accurate.
The 2006 Companies Act will introduce changes to filing times in October 2008.
A Companies House spokeswoman says: "Private companies have gone down to seven months, public companies to six. This is recommended by company law reform, improvements in technology and the rate at which information becomes out of date.
"Everyone wants accounts in the marketplace as soon as possible. It's a long time to wait if you want this information, so the filing times have been shortened."
She adds that although credit agencies may use Companies House for their information gathering, it is only one of many resources open to them. "All credit agencies buy raw data and have their people look at it and add value," she says.
"They source their information from other places as well as Companies House. They could phone a company and ask if they have half-way accounts. We can only supply the accounts we have; credit agencies have other avenues available to them."