A limited company registered with Companies House in the United Kingdom may choose to prepare and submit an Abridged account with the Registrar of Companies.
The abridged account is introduced under the Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2015. It is to replace the abbreviated account. For your information, the abbreviated account was abolished on 1 January 2016. As a result Companies House no longer accept abbreviated accounts.
On the other hands, a company opted to prepare and submit abridged account is to provide the same set of accounts for their shareholders and for Companies House records. Previously, the law allows a company to prepare a full account for its shareholders and has the option to submit Abbreviated account for Companies House for public record.
Abridged account eligibility
Your company must meet two of the following criteria to be eligible to submit Abridged account with Companies House.
- The company’s sales not more than £10.2 million.
- Balance sheet value of less than £5.1 million.
- Less than 50 employees
The benefit of presenting abridged accounts is that of it put less information for public record. This also means less information for your competitors.
Content of Abridged account
Your company accounts must contain:
- A Balance sheet that contains a sub-set of the information that is included in a full balance sheet.
- A Profit and loss account may also contain a sub-set of the information that is included in a full profit and loss account.
Compulsory disclosure in accounts
Your company accounts must include a statement on the Balance Sheet that your shareholders have agreed to the preparation of abridged accounts for the accounting period in accordance with Section 444(2A) of Companies Act 2006.
Audited abridged account
You must disclose the following in your company accounts if your company opted not to submit your profit and loss account and your Auditor’s report.
- Your Auditor’s name, if they are a firm, you must include the name of the Senior Statutory Auditor.
- The opinion of your Auditor on your company’s financial statements whether the report was qualified or unqualified. If your Auditor issued a qualified audit report the reasons of their qualification.
Another compulsory filing with Companies House
Your company must submit a confirmation statement with Companies House once every 12 months. It is a criminal offence not failing to file the statement. Consequently, all your company officers risk prosecution and fines.