If you’re thinking of structuring your business so that it enjoys the benefits of limited liability, you have a choice of three different options; a company limited by shares, a company limited by guarantee, or a limited liability partnership.
Emily Coltman FCA, chief accountant to award-winning online software provider FreeAgent, explores the difference between these three. Continue reading
Last Updated: 19/08/2014
1. Every UK Company MUST have a registered office address in the UK. If your company is registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland your registered office must be located there too.
2. You can use your residential or business address as the registered office of the company, or any other UK address, even if it is not where your organization conducts its business.
3. All statutory books (such as the company register) must be available upon request at the registered office – these can be held online.
4. Companies House and HMRC will send letters for your company to the registered office.
5. A company’s registered office must be displayed on all company literature and documents.
Throughout its electoral campaign, the Conservative party vowed to help support enterprise in the UK and encourage a recovery stimulated and sustained by private enterprise.
While the government has devised a number of concessions to support small businesses – the reduction in corporation tax and National Insurance – many small business owners have felt that they haven’t gone far enough.
However, in the light of Cameron’s recent announcement that he is going to appoint an enterprise advisor, the small business sector looks forward to having spokesperson in the House of Commons, who will not only identify the issue faced by enterprise in the UK, but ensure they are adequately represented.
Wednesday, saw the announcement of George Osborne’s much anticipated spending review. In it, the Chancellor pledged to reduce public sector spending by over eighty billion pounds over the next four years. But will it compromise the country’s economic recovery? And what impact will it have on private enterprise.
Well, if the results of a survey conducted by the Federation of Small Business are to be believed, the majority of small business owners feel that the spending review will have little impact on the private sector.
Jeff Morgan’s, founding partner of ‘Morgan’s Haulage’ comments; “The fact is, the country is in a dire state financially and like in any business, if you are in financial difficulty, cuts need to be made.”
Spokesperson for the Federation of Small Business, John Walker, comments; “We are all well aware of the state the country is in, indeed many of our members have been among the worse affected by the recession. Therefore, they are in a better position to understand, that if the issue of public deficit is to be addressed, cuts must be made.”
Last Updated on 18/08/2014
When choosing the name for your Limited Company it’s important to check if your chosen name includes any “restricted words” and if it does, can you meet the criteria set out by Companies House that allows you to use it?
One of the most commonly used restricted words is “group”. According to Companies House:
The use of this word normally implies more than one company under the same corporate ownership. If the company cannot satisfy these conditions on registration, it must provide a written undertaking that it will do so within 3 months.
If the name clearly shows that the company is to promote the interests of a group of individuals, then the name will normally be approved.
Companies House mention being able to “show” that the above will occur. This simply means drawing up a document outlining this. For example:
Dear Companies House,
We wish to incorporate a new company in the above name and this letter is to justify the use of the word ‘GROUP’.
The company will hold shares in the following companies and these shares will be taken up within three months of incorporation.
The new company will have a parent/subsidiary relationship with companies named below:
Company 1
Company 2
Signed – Company Director
If you are forming the company through Companies Made Simple our system recognises the restricted word and prompts you to fill out the template. Once completed upload this document (as a pdf) to the supporting documents section of your company admin portal and then submit the application.
If you can not meet the criteria you will need to pick an alternative name without the restricted word
A full list of the restricted words can be found in Appendix A, B & C here: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp1.shtml#appC
When the government first announced its plans to cut public spending many people feared the impact it would have on enterprise in the UK, however, they were unclear which sectors would be affected and what the actual damage may be
Now, according a recent report conducted by the Forum of Private Enterprise, the sector which will be most affected in the Export and Import sector.
According to the report manufacturing and industry will be massively affected by spending cuts and over fifty per cent within the sector fear it will have long term implications and the UK’s broader economic recovery will be compromised.
Small business owners have put a hold on developing their environmental policy until market condition improve, claims a recent survey.
According to research done by HSBC small business division, companies are focusing on consolidating their existing business propositions rather than planning the implementation of new initiatives.
Of the four hundred business owners asked, only thirty per cent said that they are planning to implement a new environmental policy in the next year, while over fifty per cent said that cost was the main thing holding them back for developing their company’s green credentials.
Other reason stated were the fact that company owners feel that all matters ‘green’ have gone down in terms of consumer agenda and that there was little government support to help businesses pursue green initiatives
Companies Made Simple is going on the road!
We are delighted to be a part of the annual 2020 accountancy conference in Birmingham from 14th October to 16th.
We’ll be exhibiting a number of our company formation and company secretarial products and have a few treats in store!
Drop by our stand and have a look at what we have to offer – look forward to seeing you there!
The Team at Companies Made Simple
Running a business through a limited company imposes numerous obligations on the directors to comply with company law. Apart from all the various rules and regulations relating to the filing of documents, annual returns, accounts and such like, there are also literally hundreds of clauses in the latest Companies Act governing the management of a company.
Yet despite this latest Companies Act, the final stages of which were implemented on 1 October 2010, Companies House, the governing body for all UK limited companies, is unable to protect your company from fraud particularly relating to identity protection.
Most people are completely unaware as to how easy it is for someone to change their details at Companies House. Company documents are still dealt with in paper format and no check is carried out on the signature. It is simply child’s play for someone to appoint themselves a director of a particular company and for that matter even change the location of a registered office. It doesn’t take much for a relatively unsophisticated criminal to order goods in your name, have them delivered to another address and leave you with a very tarnished record.
One way to protect yourself from this is by setting up a monitor at Companies House. This enables you to simply put an alert against your company details so that any time any document is filed for that company or any other change takes place, you are notified by email. The cost is negligible and both an annual and life time service can be obtained very simply through our subsidiary Companies Made Simple by clicking here. https://www.companiesmadesimple.com/monitoring-company-fraud.html
Prior to the general election, David Cameron said that he aimed to make company formation the simplest process in Europe. He pledged to reduce bureaucratic red tape, streamline the complex tax system and introduce a ‘one in one out policy’ when it comes to adding new laws relating to business. But has he achieved his overall objective?
Well according to a survey of over two hundred business owners, apparently not. The survey, carried out by business insurers ‘Xbridge’ found that over sixty per cent of business owners felt that running a company in the UK was overly bureaucratic.
Laws relating to health and safety were said to be the most pointless and time consuming, while over twenty per cent of those asked felt that the government should review current regulations with a view to reducing the amount of bureaucratic red tape.
