How to check a company before you trade with it

Short version: before you give a company credit, pay a supplier’s deposit or sign up to something for a year, spend five minutes on its public record. Check it exists and is active, check the address means what you think it means, and check it is keeping up with its filings. That isn’t a credit check, but it catches the obvious problems for free.

What the register can and can’t tell you

Limited companies and LLPs are on the Companies House register, and the basics are free to look up. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships aren’t on it, so a business with no company number isn’t suspicious in itself. This particular check just doesn’t apply to them.

The register shows what a company has filed. It doesn’t tell you whether they pay on time, whether the work is any good, or whether the person on the phone actually works there. Treat it as the first five minutes, not the whole job.

1. Match the name and the number

Start with their invoice, quote or website. A limited company has to show its registered number and registered office address on business letters, order forms and its website. If it doesn’t, that is your first question.

Then search the number, not just the name. Company names sit closer together than you’d think, and the number is the one thing that can’t be confused. Ltd Edition’s company search takes either, and you can filter by status if a common name brings back a long list.

2. Check the status says active

Status is the first line to read on any company page. Active is what you want. Anything else deserves a pause: dissolved means the company no longer exists, liquidation or administration means it is in a formal insolvency process, and a proposal to strike off means it may be removed from the register.

None of those needs a lawyer to spot. If you are about to pay money to, or give credit to, a company that isn’t active, stop and ask why before anything changes hands.

3. Don’t read too much into the registered office

A registered office is where official post goes. It doesn’t have to be where the company trades, and gov.uk says plainly that you can use an accountant’s or solicitor’s address. Plenty of companies use a registered-office service instead. Ltd Edition’s table of the busiest registered-office addresses shows single London addresses holding tens of thousands of companies each.

So a smart central London address on an invoice tells you very little about where a business is. If it matters, because you are collecting goods or they are coming to site, ask where they actually work from and check that separately.

Where a company uses its own address, the Ltd Edition company page says where it is registered and links to the local area page, such as companies registered in West Suffolk. Agent addresses are deliberately left off the map, because they say nothing about where anyone trades.

4. Read the filing history, not just the headline

The filing history is the company’s paper trail: accounts, confirmation statements, changes of address or officers, and any formal notices. You are looking for a steady rhythm. Gaps, a run of late filings, frequent address changes or a strike-off notice are all reasons to ask a question.

The Ltd Edition company page lists the most recent filings, with a short AI summary of the last twelve months where one is available, and a link to the full history on Companies House. Read the filings themselves for anything that matters; a summary is a starting point, not a verdict.

5. Check whether the accounts are overdue

Companies have to file annual accounts and a confirmation statement with Companies House. The deadlines depend on the company, so we won’t repeat them here; gov.uk is the place to check them.

The Ltd Edition company page flags both: an Overdue badge if either is late, and a note when the next one is due soon. Overdue isn’t proof of trouble. Small companies miss deadlines for dull reasons. But overdue accounts on a new customer asking for credit terms is a conversation to have before the first order, not after the third unpaid invoice.

6. Keep watching the ones that matter

A check on the day you open an account goes stale. If a customer owes you money, or you depend on a supplier, it is worth knowing when something changes.

On Ltd Edition, the Track this company button on any company page adds it to your watchlist once you have signed in. You then get an alert when it files, changes officers, registers a charge or misses a deadline. The free plan watches up to 10 companies with a daily email; paid plans watch more, more often. Ltd Edition is ours, and it is in beta, so tell us at hello@grafto.co.uk what is missing.

If something looks off

• Ask. Most odd-looking records have a dull explanation, and how someone answers tells you a lot.
• Shorten the risk. Take payment up front or a deposit until there is a track record, and keep credit limits small to start.
• Check the VAT number if they give you one, using gov.uk’s VAT number checker.
• Go further for bigger sums. The register isn’t a credit check. For serious credit, a credit reference agency or your accountant is the next step.

If you do give credit, track it properly from the first order. We’ve written about keeping payment status on the order rather than in a spreadsheet nobody trusts.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Get information about a company
• GOV.UK: Signs, stationery and promotional material
• GOV.UK: Registered office address
• GOV.UK: Prepare annual accounts for a private limited company
• GOV.UK: File your confirmation statement
• GOV.UK: Check a UK VAT number

Questions, or want a tool we don't have yet? Email hello@grafto.co.uk — a real person replies.