Keeping your company records in legal requirements is a time consuming process, so how can you keep this to a minimum?
As owner/director of your business your main priority is about making your business successful rather than being a slave to paperwork/admin/recordkeeping. But you can’t avoid this completely as company law requires a minimum level of statuary records be kept. The key is knowing what’s essential and how to stay on top of it.
So what’s required by law?
Companies Act 2006 requires every company to keep:
- A register of members, i.e. shareholders.
- A register of directors and company secretaries.
- A register of charges, i.e. details of any persons or organisations, banks, which has a right over assets of the company.
- Minutes of directors and shareholder’s meetings and resolutions.
But who checks them?
As a director it is your overall responsibility and your neck on the line if proper records aren’t kept. However, in practise, it is unlikely that Companies House, HMRC or other government agencies will inspect the statuary records, other than accounting records, of small private companies and there are no financial penalties for not keeping them.
Why should I keep statutory records then?
If you have more than one person involved in your company, the importance of your records becomes clearer when you later need to rely on them. For example, in the event of a dispute with a fellow director over remuneration levels could be easily resolved by looking back at the minutes of the board meeting they were set in, therefore proving without a doubt what was agreed. You may be thinking this will never happen, but it is our experience that most companies do have a little dispute at some point even husband and wife run companies.
A few options:
We know that admin is not everybody’s strong point so here are a couple of admin options for you:
1. Keep statutory records electronically, helping reduce time spent on admin and ensure that your records are in the proper format. You can download free or cheap software, from around £70, for example:
I. http://www.sage.co.uk/sage-company-secretarial
II. http://www.informdirect.co.uk
III. http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/toolsToHelp/accountsSoftware.shtml
2. If you would prefer someone else to deal with all the paperwork, you should think about appointing a company secretarial firm (basic services cost around £120 per year), for example
I. http://www.companiesmadesimple.com
II. http://www.firstorder-company-secretarial.co.uk
3. Or outsource your company secretary post to us for £99 per year and we will also file your annual return, leaving you with one less thing to worry about.