Statutory accounts prepared to be read
The same document decides your tax, your credit rating and what a buyer thinks of you. We prepare it from reconciled records, ask the questions that save money before the year end closes, and then sit down and go through what it says.
- Reconciled, with real working papers
- The tax-saving questions asked before the year end
- A meeting about what the accounts say
- Filed at Companies House and HMRC
- The tax computation alongside
The statutory accounts, and what they are for
Every limited company files accounts at Companies House and a fuller set with its tax return. Those are the same numbers a lender, a buyer, a landlord and a credit agency will use to decide about you, often years later, without ever speaking to you.
That is why the version filed matters. Accounts prepared to hit a deadline and accounts prepared to be read are the same legal document and completely different assets.
From records to filed
- 1The file prepared properly
Reconciled balance sheet, supported by working papers rather than by a plug. Every number on the accounts can be traced back to something.
- 2The questions asked before the year end
Directors' loan positions, dividends that need paperwork, capital allowances worth claiming, a stock figure that needs counting. Most of what saves tax has to be decided before the year end closes.
- 3A meeting about what they say
We go through the accounts with you: what moved, what it means, and what to do differently this year. This is the part that changes the outcome, and the part most often left out.
- 4Filed at Companies House and with HMRC
Both, on time, with the confirmations in your portal.
- 5The tax computation alongside
So the accounts and the corporation tax return agree, and the tax figure does not arrive as a surprise weeks later.
And what missing them costs
- Companies House
- Nine months after the accounting reference date for a private company. The late filing penalty starts at £150 and reaches £1,500 at six months, and it doubles if you were late the previous year too.
- Corporation tax payment
- Nine months and one day after the period end. Note that the money is due before the return is.
- Company tax return
- Twelve months after the period end. £100 immediately, another £100 at three months, then percentage-based penalties.
- First accounts
- Twenty-one months from incorporation, which is why a first year end sneaks up on people who were counting twelve months from trading.
- The real cost
- A late filing is public on your Companies House record for good, and it is the first thing a credit agency and a prospective buyer look at.
Four figures worth knowing by heart
Every one of these is measured from your own year end, which is why a generic tax-date list is close to useless for a director.
2026/27 figures. See key tax dates and the calculators for the full picture.
Four, and the first one costs the most
- The conversation happens after the year end
- Almost everything that reduces a corporation tax bill has to be decided before the period closes. Once it has, the accounts are a record rather than a decision, and an accountant can only report what already happened.
- A balance sheet that is plugged rather than reconciled
- Where a figure is put in to make the accounts balance instead of being agreed to something, every number sitting on top of it is unreliable — including the profit and therefore the tax.
- Stock, work in progress and accruals guessed
- In a product or project business these are among the largest numbers in the accounts. A guess here is a guess at your tax bill, in whichever direction happens to be convenient.
- Filed and never discussed
- The one time a year the whole business is in front of you on two pages, and it arrives as an email asking for a signature. That is the difference between a filing obligation and something worth paying for.
The same machine, a week apart
A £30,000 machine, bought either side of the year end
A company with a 31 March year end and profits in the marginal band, where the annual investment allowance covers the whole cost in the year of purchase.
- Cost of the equipment
- £30,000
- Claimed in full under the annual investment allowance
- £30,000
- Effective corporation tax rate in the £50k–£250k band
- 26.5%
- BOUGHT 28 MARCH — relief in the year just ending
- £7,950
- BOUGHT 4 APRIL — same relief, twelve months later
- £7,950
- Tax deferred by a week’s difference
- 12 months
The relief is identical either way. What changes is when you get it, and a week either side of the year end moves £7,950 of cash by a full year. That is the entire argument for having the conversation in month ten rather than month fifteen.
Worked through at 2026/27 rates from our own calculators, which follow gov.uk guidance checked in July 2026. An example. Your figures will differ.
What people ask about year-end accounts
When are my accounts due?
Nine months after your accounting reference date for a private limited company, and twenty-one months from incorporation for a first set. The corporation tax payment is due at nine months and a day, before the return itself.
What is the difference between the two sets?
A small company can file abridged or filleted accounts at Companies House, which keeps the profit and loss off the public record. The full set, including the profit and loss, goes to HMRC with the tax return. You get both.
Can you take over mid-year?
Yes, and it is the most common way we start. We write to your current accountant for the handover file, and the professional clearance process is routine — see switching to Buzz.
My records are a mess. Is that a problem?
Catching up costs money and it does not stop you joining. We would rather be told up front so the quote is right, and the fix is usually to get the bookkeeping onto software so next year is a different job. We have started from a carrier bag before.
Do I get to talk to someone about them?
Yes — that meeting is part of the service rather than an extra. Accounts you never discuss are a filing obligation. Accounts you go through are the one time a year you look at the whole business at once.
