Free Company Accounts

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

I have found a site called www.thesmehub.com that gives registered users unlimited free company accounts for all LTD, LLP and PLC's. Any they can be copied and pasted.

 

[Jenni384]

I have found a site called www.thesmehub.com that gives registered users unlimited free company accounts for all LTD, LLP and PLC's. Any they can be copied and pasted.

Ugh, this site talks at me as soon as I go to it

Had to click away before having a look to see what they were offering, I really wish sites wouldn't do this.

Assuming what they are offering is free templates, it's useful but only if you know what you're doing to be able to fill them in correctly.

 

[Wild Goose]

Good luck with that! It's run by Creditsafe, who will nag you into subscribing for a year at any price - they once discounted their price from £2k to £300 in a desperate attempt to get me to subscribe. They make their money in the second year, when charging you the full £2k annual subscription. You might think you can always cancel, but their cancellation notice date passes before their renewal notice arrives ("of course you can cancel, sir, but you'll still have to pay for your second year's subscription even though you won't be using it".

Worse, the blurb is misleading. Nearly all SME companies submit an abbreviated set of accounts to Companies House, which consists of a balance sheet and little else. So their claim that you would be able to inspect Profit and Loss account statements, or for that matter anything else useful, is optomistic to say the least.

 

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

Its the accounts information submitted to companies house not a template. So it has Turnover, networth, cash in bank etc

Agree with you though that talking thing is awful, I turn off my sound.

Its free and says its staying free so would struggle to talk me into paying for something that I;m getting for free and says it will stay free.

 

[Wild Goose]

Ugh, this site talks at me as soon as I go to it

Had to click away before having a look to see what they were offering, I really wish sites wouldn't do this.

Assuming what they are offering is free templates, it's useful but only if you know what you're doing to be able to fill them in correctly.

Hi J,

It's just "giving away" access to Companies House data and similar. I know the company (Creditsafe) who are behind this - they throw in the stuff you can get by paying a £1 on Co's House "Webcheck" and supplement with a few other goodies from the electoral roll (which anyone can pick up at 192.com).

Did the strobe lighting get you?

 

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

Hi J,

It's just "giving away" access to Companies House data and similar. I know the company (Creditsafe) who are behind this - they throw in the stuff you can get by paying a £1 on Co's House "Webcheck" and supplement with a few other goodies from the electoral roll (which anyone can pick up at 192.com).

Did the strobe lighting get you?

In some ways its better than companies house in other ways its not.

Its better because its values that can be cut and paste into excel (companies house data is an image). Also all accounts are in the same format so I think its easier to follow.

It worse because it does not have any written notes or comments written by the accountants or business owner.

 

[Jenni384]

Hi J,

It's just "giving away" access to Companies House data and similar. I know the company (Creditsafe) who are behind this - they throw in the stuff you can get by paying a £1 on Co's House "Webcheck" and supplement with a few other goodies from the electoral roll (which anyone can pick up at 192.com).

Did the strobe lighting get you?

The strobe didnt get a chance, I turned off as soon as Electronic Edna assaulted my ears.

If that's all it is then it's not likely all that worthwhile (though if it's free and you can get past Edna and the Strobes then why not?).

Companies House accounts data is abbreviated therefore likely of little use to most people.

 

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

Even with abbreiveated accounts the shareholder funds and net worth are populated which give an indication of a company. If a company is over a size they have to submit accounts.

I have paid for from experian (this is the same data everyone has) in the past so think its great, also you can look at companies you maybe would not have done because its free. I find I am looking at all the companies someone is connected with because its free and can build a picture.

 

[Wild Goose]

Pah! You need to check out the directors and shareholders - not some 12 month plus out of date abbreviated set of accounts that tell you precious little. Due diligence!

 

[FulfilmentAdvisors]

The shareholders and directors dont effect the numbers, but I agree that its not a full due dilligance, for instance a full credit report would include CCJ's and other company events.

That said from my experience few small companies do any checks that a business can pay them, so looking up accounts for free is better than nothing. And all credit companies in effect use 18 month old account data as the main factors of defining a credit limit. These accounts seem to be as upto date as Experians.

 

[Consistency]

Going back a few months ago we were getting calls form credit safe with the hard sell. If we told them we were busy they agreed to call back at a later date. I did give them time and five minutes to show me a little sometihng turned into 30 minutes. I did not want to commit and had to get on with the day and so agreed to speak another time.

Through no fault of their own the calls came at times where I was in the middle of something and I had told them a few times that I would look further and then call them back. the last call I had from them was when I was in the middle of forms and he asked if I was busy, I said yes. To which he sighed and said you are always busy!!

Yes I run a business, and am entitled to be.It was then I said Look I am not interested, I have said I will call you and I have not so please do not call again. He carried on and I hung up.

I am very respectful of the fact that salesmen and women are just diong there job and I will not be rude to them as it is quite uncalled for but that changes when they do not take the hint. It is not nice really to have to be sharp to sales calls but there are times we are left with no choice.

Creditsafe were a pest.

 

[Jenni384]

Even with abbreiveated accounts the shareholder funds and net worth are populated which give an indication of a company. If a company is over a size they have to submit accounts.
.

Mostly we are interested in our competitors and our customers/ suppliers, and that means small companies entitled to submit abbreviated.

Retained profit means nothing. Lets say they have retained profit of £100, that could mean anything. They could have turned over £100 pure profit, turned over £1m with profit of £100k that was nearly all taken in dividends, they could have made a loss and that cut into the retained profit from last year.

About the only half-meaningful thing you can glean is if they have a negative balance sheet, and even then there could be various reasons (eg I filed one recently where they made a profit, but deferred tax (an accounting adjustment) made it a loss).