Legally required corporate records were physical ledgers that were typically issued to directors of a corporation upon incorporation. Rather, they were stored in a dark place and then largely ignored. If you are concerned about your legally required books, contact our corporate secretarial team who can guide you through the process. Nowadays, with advances in technology and many limited liability companies formed by the directors and shareholders themselves, the registers required by law are often not even created. These records must normally be kept for a period of 7 years from the date they are issued, dated, signed or created. Companies attach great importance to financial statements and accounting documents, as these documents are essential to provide shareholders and other stakeholders with a summary of the company`s financial situation. However, the other legal documents of § 24, paragraph 3, do not give as much weight. In addition to a statutory requirement, the maintenance of these records is necessary to ensure that decisions made by the board of directors and shareholders are clearly recorded. Disputes concerning the approval of transactions by the board of directors, the authorization of a director to act on behalf of the company, the dividend policy of the company, the approval of the company`s shares by shareholders and the validity of shareholders` meetings can generally be resolved by accurate and up-to-date recording of the information referred to in Article 24 (3). The company`s statutory records must be kept at the company`s registered office (or at any other place notified to Companies House – Companies House in Wales for companies registered in England and Wales and Companies House in Edinburgh for companies registered in Scotland) where they can be consulted.
Company records may be kept in paper or electronic form. If they are in electronic form, it must be possible to reproduce them on paper. Legally required books include: Home » News & Publications » News » Legal Business Registers – What Are They and Why Should They Be Kept? It is now possible for a private company to choose to keep all or part of its statutory registers in the Companies House public register. To do this, they must submit some or all of the following forms to Companies House: Limited liability companies are required to keep the following records required by law: For legal reasons, the register of members proves who are the shareholders of a company and what shares they hold. Therefore, it is really important that shareholders are properly registered in the membership register. Limited liability companies are also required to keep records of all board meetings. For many entrepreneurs, these are usually records of the distribution of corporate dividends. How you keep the legally required records of your business is entirely up to you.
This makes it possible to capture this legally required information digitally or on paper for your business. You must keep accurate accounting records and keep them for three years from the date they are created. They should include information about payments made and received, as well as the company`s assets and liabilities. The role of company secretary is not mandatory under the implementation of the Companies Act 2006, but if you appoint a secretary, you will need to provide the name (and previous names) and address of the person (a “service address”, such as the address of the company`s registered office, may be indicated in the register). Every limited liability company in the UK is required by law to keep the records required by law. They are called statutory documents for the exact reason why they are mandatory. These must be kept up to date if the information is required by HMRC. Ultimately, problems with legally required books can result in the need for compensation, or even affect the sale price in extreme circumstances, so early correction of anomalies can be invaluable in the long run.
Records provide a historical and up-to-date record of your company`s ownership and who is responsible for its operation. This is essential if, for example, there are disagreements over shareholding, share transfers or share inheritance. In addition, it is important to have these legally required records if you want to sell the business or if you need to run the business in bankruptcy proceedings. Since the focus is on day-to-day business, legally required records are probably the easiest part of the business to forget. Many also believe that filling out annual filings at Companies House is sufficient to meet the requirement of legal records. However, this is not the case, unless the company has expressly chosen to keep the information that must be entered in certain registers required by law in the public register kept by the commercial register. What is the purpose of legal registries? Given the implementation of confirmatory statements instead of annual statements, the information contained in Companies House cannot be considered the most recent position of the company. Companies House only shows the Company`s position at the time of its confirmation statement and any other filing submitted by the Company. Therefore, legally required records are the most up-to-date record of the company`s situation and the only reliable source of up-to-date information and evidence of ownership. If you own and run a business in the UK, the short answer to these questions is that you should know! The majority of UK companies are required by law to keep statutory registers.
The records described above are mandatory and must be kept by any limited liability company (although the 4th and 5th are not required in all cases). In addition, you must also keep a register of the usual residential addresses of directors, a register of secretaries (only if a secretary of the company has been appointed), a register of persons with significant control (with information on all those who have a significant interest or control in a company); and fee records (but only if fees are to be charged, such as securities such as mortgages or bonds). You must have these records up to date and available in case your accounts need to be audited by the tax authorities or if their officials carry out a compliance check. As with most things involved in running your own business, accuracy and timeliness are crucial when it comes to legal matters. On the plus side, these records are not complicated, they just need to be kept and updated so that they are correct at all times. If you`re not sure, talk to your accountant, and they`ll be able to provide you with all the right information or even suggest systems to manage your legal cases more efficiently! When you form a limited liability company, you must keep what is classified as “statutory records”. These documents include all your business filings, business register names, and confirmation statements (formerly called your company`s “annual reports”), to name a few. That`s why it`s important to keep track of these records, writes Christian Hickmott, CEO of Integro Accounting. If you don`t have these records, your business may appear illegal to HMRC. The corporation must keep a record of all charges levied on the corporation`s property. It is really important not to rely on information submitted in a confirmation statement to Companies House as proof of a company`s share capital and shareholders.
Companies House is only a document and does not replace the obligation for a company to keep statutory records. When we are tasked with registering a business, our client usually focuses on registering the certificate of incorporation.