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Frequently Asked Questions

No profit and loss or turnover filing requirements for a Limited company

It is quite possible for a limited company report to contain no profit and loss and/or turnover figures, or that this information is missing for particular years. This is because the company concerned is exempt from disclosing these accounts according to the Companies Act (1985, revised 1989), and has chosen not to file this data, instead filing 'abbreviated' accounts. If the company is a 'small' company as defined by the Companies Act, then that company is exempt from filing profit and loss and turnover. If the company is a 'medium-sized' company as defined by the Companies Act, then it is required to file a profit and loss account but does not need to disclose its turnover. If profit and loss and turnover information for the company has been filed at Companies House our reports would show this.

Accounting exemptions for small companies.

In most cases, small and medium-sized companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are entitled to submit abbreviated accounts to Companies House - which means they have to provide less information.

For financial years starting before 6 April 2008, to be a small company or LLP, you must meet at least two of these three conditions:

annual turnover must be £5.6 million or less
balance sheet total must be £2.8 million or less
average number of employees must be no more than 50

For financial years starting on or after 6 April 2008, a small company (not LLP) must meet at least two of the following conditions:

annual turnover must not be more than £6.5 million
the balance sheet total must not be more than £3.26 million
the average number of employees must not be more than 50

For financial years starting before 6 April 2008, to be a medium-sized company (not LLP) you must meet at least two of these three conditions:

annual turnover must be £22.8 million or less
balance sheet total must be £11.4 million or less
average number of employees must be no more than 250

For financial years starting on or after 6 April 2008, a medium-sized company (not LLP), must meet at least two of the following conditions:

annual turnover must be no more than £25.9 million
balance sheet total must be no more than £12.9 million
the average number of employees must be no more than 250

Small and medium-sized LLPs can take advantage of the higher thresholds for accounting periods starting on or after 1 October 2008.

Even if a company or LLP stops being small or medium-sized through expansion, it will still be regarded as such for one financial year afterwards. If it then reverts to being a small or medium-sized company the following year, the exemption will continue uninterrupted.

Why are there no accounts on my report?

It is possible that your limited company report does not contain accounts, most likely because the business is either not a Limited company, or because the company concerned is a relatively new company or it is dormant. Non-Limited Businesses are not required to file financial data for public record. Only Limited liability companies file information for public record at Companies House. A new company is given a lengthy period following its incorporation before which it needs to file accounts. It can choose to extend its accounting period from the usual 12 months up to a maximum of 18 months. Additionally it is allowed the normal 9 months (6 months for PLCs) in which to prepare accounts, giving a maximum of 27 months (24 months for PLCs) from the incorporation date before having to disclose its first set of accounts. A dormant company does not need to file accounts as it does not trade on its own account. Instead it may be carrying out business as part of a group or on behalf of a holding company.

Why isn't there a credit rating or risk indicator score on my report?

The Credit Rating and Risk Indicator Score apply to limited companies only. Check first to make sure that the subject company is a Limited company and that the registered number of the company you are interested in is the same as the one on the report. Please note that for non-limited businesses the only official information available is court records. We do provide a credit guide for non-limited businesses, although this is suppressed when adverse data has been recorded. We will supply a Credit Rating and a Risk Indicator Score on most Limited company reports. However, it is sometimes not possible to do so when there is not enough information filed at Companies House to formulate an assessment. In this respect there are a number of possible reasons why either or both the Credit Rating and Risk Indicator can be absent from a report. For example it may be that the subject company is quite new, in which case it may not have been trading as a Limited company long enough to file any accounts and will therefore not have enough of a track record for either a Credit Rating or Risk Indicator to be assigned. Another possibility is that the company is dormant, and similarly there may not be enough information to assign a Credit Rating. Occasionally there is no Credit Rating or Risk Indicator available until a report update has been carried out. Very occasionally the Risk Indicator Score is suppressed if under special circumstances there is a manual override of the data on a report.

Can you explain the credit rating and risk indicator scores?

Both the Credit Rating and Risk Indicator score in our reports apply to Limited companies only. The Credit Rating and Risk Indicator Score are created by applying statistically proven scoring models to the data held on a business, and are probability opinions which are supplied for guidance purposes only. They are calculated according to a mathematical model which analyses in a consistent manner the information on file for the subject company. Influencing factors include how new or established the company is; how much information is disclosed in the accounts; how up-to-date the latest accounts are; how substantial the financial resources are; the strength of the company's liquidity, solvency, and profitability; and whether the company has acquired any county court judgments or other adverse information. The Credit Rating is the average monthly exposure we would recommend. The Risk Indicator provides a score from 1-100 which allows you to quickly evaluate the calculated level of risk. The Risk Indicator Score predicts the likelihood of a company failing in the next 12 months (the lower the score out of 100 the greater the risk). Please note that the indicators are approximate and are provided as a guide only. Figures are also liable to fluctuate according to economic conditions.

The Net Monthly Credit Rating and Maximum Credit Rating explained

Our Limited Company reports show two credit limits:

Net Monthly Credit Rating
Maximum Credit Rating

The Net Monthly Credit Rating indicates an appropriate monthly credit limit. The Maximum Credit Rating makes allowance for the fact that not all companies operate on 30 day terms, and that additional credit may be extended while current invoices have been issued for payment.

The Maximum Credit Rating we display will change depending upon the Terms you have entered. For example, if your Terms are 60 days, then if the Net Monthly Credit Rating is £10,000 we would display your Maximum Credit Rating as £20,000.

You can set your standard Terms from the menu by going to My Account and then down to Update Your Details. You can also change your Terms per company either when selecting each report, or from within the report by clicking the link to 'Set/Change Your Credit Terms'. If your business sells on irregular terms and you wish to know the total credit worthiness you may choose to set your default Terms to 90 days.

Non-Limited business reports are always subject to net monthly conditions for the credit limit shown.

Formulas used for financial ratio analysis

Click here for a Guide to Ratios used in our reports.

Mortgages and Debentures

A mortgage is a loan usually to finance the purchase of property and usually with specified payment periods and interest rates. Debentures are loans that are usually secured and are said to have either fixed or floating charges with them. A secured debenture is tied to the financing of a specific asset such as a building or a machine. Then, just like a mortgage, the debenture holder has a legal interest in that asset and the company cannot dispose of it unless the debenture holder agrees. Debenture holders can receive their interest payments before any dividend to shareholders. If the business fails the debenture holders will be preferential creditors.

When a company raises a Mortgage or has a Debenture applied we send out Monitor alerts to clients who have placed the company on Monitor. It is possible to obtain more details about the Mortgages or Debentures from companieshouse.gov.uk. We send out the alert soon after Companies House is advised about the mortgage, so it can be another 2 weeks before the information is processed at Companies House and available on public record.

Do you provide reports other than in the UK?

We provide international reports on over 270 countries worldwide. Prices vary depending upon the country, the difficulty in obtaining information on the specified company and the time scale within which the report is required. We cannot guarantee providing a report within the requested time, although we do our best to achieve this. We will provide you with as much information as possible on the company concerned, although please note that few countries require businesses to disclose as much information as in the UK and we cannot therefore guarantee the amount of information that will be provided, although we can often give you a broad indication of the kind of information you may receive according to what we know about the country's particular filing requirements. If enough information can be obtained we usually provide a credit opinion.

How can I see my own personal credit report?

You are entitled to see a copy of your own credit file. The Data Protection Act (1998) does not permit you to obtain this from us, or for us to provide this to you; we are unable to provide you with a consumer (or individual) report on you or members of your family. Individuals who wish to see the information contained in their credit file held by credit reference agencies can write to the agencies concerned or apply on the agencies' websites. For full details about personal files and the agencies which hold these files you can visit the Information Commissioner's Office website at ico.gov.uk. The main consumer credit agencies also provide services to enable internet access to your own credit report online. You can see more information about obtaining your own credit report online at creditcheck.co.uk.

Data Protection and Data Protection Registration

The Data Protection Act requires any individuals and businesses (including overseas companies) to be registered in order to obtain UK consumer checks online. Consequently you will need to provide us with your Data Protection registration number. Please note that this should not be confused with a Consumer Credit Licence which is entirely separate. It may be worth checking first with your own company to confirm whether it does not already possess a Data Protection registration number, or whether your registration needs to be renewed. If you need to register do so here Online Notification Process.

Abbreviations and Codes used in reports

Click here for a full list of Abbreviations and Codes in reports.

Glossary of credit and financial terms

Click here for a full Glossary of terms used in reports.

Contact details for other Credit Reference Agencies and information providers

Experian 0115 941 0888
Equifax 0845 603 3000 option 6
Dun & Bradstreet 01628 492000
Graydon 020 8515 1400
ICC 020 8481 8855
Registry Trust Ltd 020 7380 0133
Companies House 0870 333 3636
Charities Commission 0870 333 0123

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