Guides

Short answers, with screenshots from real company pages.

• How to check a company before you trade with itFive minutes on a company's page before you sign, pay or extend credit: status, warning signs, accounts and who runs it.
• What does "proposal to strike off" mean?The company is due to be closed and removed from the register, usually within two months, unless someone objects or it files what it owes.
• How to read micro-entity accountsThe smallest companies can file very short accounts: a balance sheet and little else. Here's what you can and can't learn.
• Confirmation statement explainedOnce a year every company confirms its details are right. Overdue means it hasn't, and it can be struck off.
• Find who owns a UK companyPeople with significant control (PSCs) own or control a company: over 25% of shares or votes, or the right to appoint directors.
• Disqualified directorsA court or the Insolvency Service can ban someone from running a company for up to 15 years.