File annual accounts

Every UK company delivers its annual accounts to Companies House by a deadline counted from its accounting reference date. IQ Entities does not prepare the accounts: your accountant or your accounting software does. What it does is take the file they exported, read it, check it against the company's record, show it to you, and file it exactly as uploaded from the company's annual accounts task.

Before you start, ask for the accounts file exported for Companies House. It is usually an .html or .xhtml file, often called iXBRL or tagged accounts. A PDF of the accounts cannot be filed.

Upload the accounts file

1. Open the company's annual accounts task from Compliance Calendar, or from the company's own calendar.

2. Under Do the work, drop the file onto The accounts file exported for Companies House, or click it to choose the file.

   

3. If you chose a PDF or a plain XBRL file, the field says so and what to export instead. Ask for the right file rather than converting one yourself.

Check what was read

1. What this filing will send shows The accounts you uploaded, read from the file itself: the company name and number, the Period, the Balance sheet date, the Kind of accounts, the date they were Approved by the board on and who they were Signed by. Check that these are the accounts the board approved, for the right company and year.

   

2. Beneath the summary are the checks the file was put through. When everything passes they fold into one line; click it to see each check.

   

3. Read any group of checks that is shown open:

   What the task shows	What it means
   Must fix before filing	Something in the file stops the filing, such as the wrong company number or a file that cannot be shown safely. Ask for a corrected export and upload it again.
   Worth checking	Something unusual you should confirm. As the heading says, these do not stop the filing.
   Only Companies House's own web upload takes these accounts	These accounts cannot be filed through software. The task says File these accounts on the Companies House website in place of the file button, with a link to the GOV.UK guidance.

4. Below the checks, the accounts themselves are shown as they will be filed. Scroll through them before you file.

File them

1. Click File a registry form. It stays unavailable while anything must be fixed.

   

2. Read Review before filing. It repeats the summary and lists What we hold beside What will be filed, with a tick where the file agrees with the company's record. If something is wrong, click Back and upload a corrected file.

3. Click File it. The accounts go to Companies House under your presenter account and cannot be recalled.

   

4. The task waits for the registrar's answer and closes itself when Companies House accepts the accounts. See Follow a filing after you submit it.

Tips from practice

• Filing needs your organisation's presenter account and the company's authentication code. See Connect your Companies House presenter account and Save a company's authentication code.
• If your accountant files the accounts themselves, there is nothing to upload. The task closes once Companies House's record shows the accounts delivered.
• The board minute approving the accounts is the company's own paperwork. Draw it up from the task's documents: see Prepare the documents for a task.
• For every other form, see File a form from its task.