Every UK limited liability business is required to file accounts in Statutory Format with Companies House and HM Revenue and Customs. These accounts are then used to calculate the amount of tax payable, based on profits and other forms of income. These accounts are important from an individual's perspective as well. Not only do they provide you with information about the profitability and stability of your business, they can also help when requesting finance, both personally and for the business.

We are specialists in the production of statutory accounts for all types of businesses, the accounts for a Limited Company, a PLC, a LLP or consolidated accounts for a group of companies. The highly experienced staffs at Fides Partners Limited fully understand the presentation and disclosure requirements of the Companies Act and accounting standards. As such, we are able to advise the directors on the best possible presentation, whether this is to the board of directors, the bank or to Companies House.

We offer a quick and efficient service to produce year end statutory accounts for limited companies. This includes:

• Dormant accounts.
• Non Trading accounts.
• Trading accounts.

£ 100             mid               £ 250

£ 550             mid               £ 450

A limited company is required to prepare accounts, in a statutory format, that must be filed with Companies House and HM Revenue & Customs on time.

Key dates

Mr X incorporates a company on 01/01/05. His company accounting period will be from 01/01/05 to 31/12/05. The due dates will be as follows:

1. Pay corporation tax (if any) within 9 months and 1 day from the end of the accounting period which in this example will be by the 01/10/06.
2. File accounts with Companies House - 9 month 1 day from the end of the accounting period which will be by the 01/10/06.
3. File accounts with HM Revenue and Customs - 12 months from end of accounting period this will be by the 31/12/06.

However we file all accounts well before the due dates and pay corporation tax by the 9 month and 1 day deadline.

Preparation of your final statutory accounts.

We will need the following information to prepare your final statutory accounts:

• Summary of sales invoices
• Summary of Purchases invoices
• Summary of expenses Invoices such as telephone bills, rent, salary etc
• Any contracts, agreement or documents relevant to the preparation of the accounts
• All Bank Statements for the relevant accounting period
• Company statutory information such as Certificate of incorporation, memorandum and Article of Association, minutes etc.

It is very important that we received accounting information on time so that we can plan our work and also have enough time to prepare the accounts with a true and fair view in the best interest of the beneficial owner and director as ultimately you are responsible for your company accounts and tax matters.

We must receive all accounting information (as stated above in summary format) 4 months before the filing deadline with Inland Revenue. Failure to provide us the accounting information within the given time, we will not be responsible for any penalties that your company will incur for late filing. If there are additional queries you should make sure that you reply to us as soon as possible again to avoid delays and thus you paying late filing penalties.

For clients who want us to do their bookkeeping (where we received all invoices without summary) we will request that we received information 5 months before the filing deadline with Inland Revenue. Failure to provide us the accounting information within the given time we will not be responsible for any penalties that your company will incur for late filing.

PLEASE NOTE THAT IF WE DO NOT RECEIVED SUMMARY OF ALL INVOICES THERE WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE ON TOP OF OUR FEES FOR FINAL STATUTORY ACCOUNTS PREPARATION. THE ADDITIONAL FEES WILL DEPEND ON THE VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS.

WE ADVISE ALL OUR CLIENTS TO SEND US DOCUMENT BY EMAIL RATHER THAN BY POST TO AVOID POSTAGE AND ANY ADDICTIONAL COST TO YOU WHEN WE HAVE TO SEND YOU BACK THE ACCOUTING INFORMATION.

Late Filing penalties

Late filing penalties were introduced in 1992 to encourage directors of limited companies to file their accounts on time because they must provide this statutory information for the public record.

Section 441 of the Companies Act 2006 requires all companies to deliver annual accounts to the Registrar of Companies by the due date. Section 453 specifies that a civil administration penalty shall be payable if the accounts are delivered late, and provides for the Secretary of State to specify the level of this penalty through regulations.

To increase the effectiveness of the late filing penalties, when section 453 comes into force Companies House will change the current schedule of late filing penalties as contained in section 242A of the Companies Act 1985. In parallel, the Government will amend section 242A of the 1985 Act so that these changes also apply to accounts prepared under the 1985 Act but delivered late on or after 1st February 2009 when the updated penalties come into force. All penalties have increased to take account of inflation between 1992 and 2007. A faster rate of increase in penalties for companies who file more than one month late. A doubling of the penalty for any company which files late having also filed late in the previous year.

The new late filing penalties are as follows:

How late are the accounts delivered	Penalty- PLC*	Penalty - PLC**
Not more than one month	£ 750	£ 150
More than one month but not more than three months	£ 375	£ 1500
More than three months but not more than six months	£ 750	£ 3000
More than six months	£ 1500	£ 7500

*PLC = Private Limited Company | **PLC = Public Limited Company

In addition where there was a failure to comply with filing requirements in relation to the previous financial year (and that the previous financial year had begun on or after 6th April 2008), the penalty will be double that shown in the table. The new penalties was applied from 1st February 2009.If accounts are delivered late, an invoice is issued automatically to your registered office address.

These penalties can be avoided by:

• Reading the filing reminders that Companies House send to your registered office address.
• Allow enough time to ensure that your accounts reach the Registrar within the period allowed in the Companies Act. First-class post is not guaranteed so if the filing deadline is looming, then please consider guaranteed methods of delivery that will ensure that your accounts arrive on time. Remember: the Registrar will not waive a penalty if your accounts are delayed in the post.
• You can now file certain categories of accounts using Companies House Software Filing or WebFiling services using the Companies House website. If you file your accounts electronically you will benefit from an email acknowledging receipt of your accounts.
• If the penalty is not paid, it will be referred to collection agents. If it remains unpaid, legal action may be taken which could result in a County Court judgement or a Sheriff Court decree against your company.