Companies House Accounts Explorer

What you're actually looking at

Every UK limited company files a stream of statutory documents — accounts (AA), annual confirmations (CS01), director appointments (AP01) and resignations (TM01), share issues (SH01), resolutions, and insolvency events. Companies House hosts the PDFs of all of them, for free, going back decades. Reading the chronology of a company's filings is the closest thing to reading its diary.

The filings that actually matter

AA — annual accounts

Filed 9 months after year-end for private companies. The most important document on the register. For small companies you'll see a balance sheet and notes; for medium/large companies a full P&L and cashflow. Read year-on-year.

CS01 — confirmation statement

Annual "everything is still true" filing. Confirms shareholders, PSCs, SIC codes and registered office. Missing or late CS01s are a very cheap signal of a company falling asleep at the wheel.

SH01 — return of allotment of shares

When new shares are issued (funding rounds, employee options exercised, warrant conversions). Reading a company's SH01 chronology tells you when equity was raised and at roughly what price — the nominal value plus premium disclosed.

MR01 / MR04 — charge filings

Secured lending events. MR01 = charge created; MR04 = charge satisfied. A live floating charge from an invoice-finance provider is a working-capital tell — see credit score checker.

Insolvency filings

Winding-up petitions, notices of appointment of administrators, statements of affairs. These are always red flags — but not necessarily lethal ones. Read the document. A company in administration can still be a good acquisition target. See our administration hub for the buyer view.

Common misreadings

• "Late accounts" isn't always terminal. Small companies file late for benign reasons — auditor change, accountant illness. It's the pattern that matters.
• Micro-entity accounts don't disclose turnover. Don't infer size from balance sheet totals alone.
• "Total exemption small" isn't a red flag. It just means the company filed under the small-company exemption regime. ~85% of UK companies do.
• Filed vs "made up to" date. Companies file for a period ending several months earlier. "Latest accounts made up to Dec 2024" is normal; that same period filed in 2027 isn't.

Adjacent tools

• Confirmation statement checker for a laser-focused view of CS01 due dates.
• Credit score checker to translate filings into a 0–100 risk score.
• Free company checker for the top-level profile.