Company Registration Resources

Company Registration

Companies House is responsible for company registration in Great Britain. It also has a key role in providing information about British companies.

A new company must:

- give details of its constitution in the form of a Memorandum and Articles of Association

- give details of its directors, company secretary and members and have a registered office.

A new company comes into existence when the Registrar of Companies issues a certificate of incorporation.

Companies House is an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. The business of Companies House is the registration and provision of company information for companies registered in England, Wales and Scotland . They process millions of documents every year in order to keep company records up to date.

Much of the information kept is provided online, some free and some you have to pay for. They also distribute a range of useful booklets about the regulatory framework concerning the registration and running of a company plus at their website there are links to all the other government departments that you may wish to contact.

With approximately 30,000 limited companies being formed in the UK every month, and this figure is increasing all the time, you are not alone in your decision to go limited. There are currently 1.84 million limited companies registered in the UK (statistics for 2004), the majority of these being registered in England and Wales . The number of limited companies currently registered in Scotland is a little over 100,000.

There are two ways to form a UK limited company. A paper application can be made to Companies House or you can make an electronic application through a third parties software, usually via a website.

Paper application to register a limited company

Less than 25% of companies are formed in this way now. The reason being it is a time consuming and complex task, the slightest error on the paperwork submitted during application will result in a rejected application.

Electronic company formation

This is the most popular and simple way to form your limited company. It is not possible for the general public to form a company electronically with Companies House directly. To form a limited company electronically you will need to use a Company Formation Agent. Companies House have designed their systems to allow Agents to create their own electronic interface with the back office at Companies House. The reason Companies House have done this is because they are not able to offer advice to individuals on how best to form their company. It is therefore the Agents job to advise you on how to form your company based on your circumstances and then register the company on your behalf.

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