Thursday, May 6, 2010

Is Company House the Supreme Authority for Company Registration?

The UK had introduced a company formation and registration system in 1844. Since the year 2009, company registration affairs began to be dealt with according to the rules mentioned in the Companies Act 2006. Prior to this, business details were filed according to the laws of the Companies Act 1985. Company House, an executive agency of the UK government that operates under the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), takes care of business registrations. All limited companies established in England, Wales and Scotland are registered at this agency. More than 2.6 million limited companies function in Great Britain and each year witnesses the incorporation of over 300,000 new business houses.

Functions of Company House
  • The three major functions of Company House include:
  • incorporation and dissolution of limited companies
  • examination and filing of company information submitted under the Companies Act
  • making all this information accessible to the public
General Information about Company House

Directors’ residential address not in public domain: Since the enforcement of the Companies Act 2006 on October 1, 2009, the home addresses of company directors are not available for public review like it was before. Previously, the obligation to file residential addresses while registering businesses had proven disadvantageous to celebrities and those business men functioning in sensitive locations. The director’s address will be displayed only if liquidators, creditors or shareholders request for disclosure of address after providing substantial evidence of the company address being ineffective. The address can also be disclosed in case it is necessitated by a decree of court.

Types of companies: The following are some of the types of companies recognized by Company House:
  • Public Limited Company (PLC)
  • Private company limited by shares (Ltd)
  • Private company limited by guarantee
  • Unlimited company
  • Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
  • Limited partnership (LP)
  • Societas Europaea (SE)
  • Companies registered by Royal Charter (RC)
  • Community interest company
The Registrar of Companies: The Registrar for England and Wales is Gareth Jones. He is also Chief Executive of Company House. His office is in Cardiff. The Registrar for Scotland is Dorothy Blair and her office is in Edinburgh. The Registrar for Northern Ireland, Helen Shilliday, is based in Belfast. Apart from this, Company House has an Information Center in London.

The best way to register a company is with the help of online registration agents, such as Company Formations 24.7. The expert team at www.companyformations247.co.uk specializes in assisting entrepreneurs with company formation procedures, administration and information services and offers its services for all stages of the incorporation process.

1 comment:

Gavin said...

Company formation can be an extremely hard procedure to those who are absolutely new to set up a company. I think it is better to choose an agent; even it is also a significant role where we have to be very careful.