What Financial Data Is Available from Companies House? A Complete Guide
Why turnover is missing for most UK companies
Structured UK company financial data
Understanding PSC ownership data
Accessing company financial data through an API
1. Who must file accounts and when
Every UK limited company - private limited (Ltd), public limited (PLC), and limited liability partnership (LLP) - is legally required to file annual accounts with Companies House. Sole traders, general partnerships, and unincorporated businesses are not required to file. The filing deadline is nine months after the financial year-end for private companies and six months for public companies. Late filing penalties start at £150 for filings up to one month late and escalate to £1,500 for filings more than six months overdue.
In practice, most companies file close to the deadline. This means the most recent accounts available for any given company are typically between six and fifteen months old and reflect a financial position that is already considerably more dated than the filing date suggests. There is no quarterly reporting requirement for UK private companies - annual filing is the only statutory requirement.
Dormant companies must also file accounts, but these contain only a simplified balance sheet confirming there has been no significant activity. Dormant company accounts contain no useful financial data for analysis.
2. What you get by company size
The level of financial detail in a company's annual accounts is determined by its size classification under the Companies Act 2006. A company qualifies for a size category if it meets two of the three criteria for that category. The thresholds below apply for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, following changes introduced under the Companies Act 2006 as amended.
Size thresholds (from 6 April 2025)
| Category | Turnover | Balance sheet total | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity | ≤ £1M | ≤ £500K | ≤ 10 |
| Small | ≤ £15M | ≤ £7.5M | ≤ 50 |
| Medium | ≤ £54M | ≤ £27M | ≤ 250 |
| Large | Above medium | Above medium | > 250 |
What each size company must file publicly
| Data point | Large | Medium | Small | Micro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance sheet | Full | Full | Abridged | Minimal |
| Turnover | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Profit and loss | Full | Full | No | No |
| Gross profit / cost of sales | Yes | Sometimes | No | No |
| Cash flow statement | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Directors' report | Yes | Yes | Optional | No |
| Employee count | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Notes to accounts | Full | Full | Limited | No |
| Auditor's report | Yes | Yes | Exempt | Exempt |
3. What balance sheet data contains
Balance sheet data is the most widely available financial information in Companies House filings and is present for almost all companies that file electronically. A balance sheet records the financial position of a company at a specific point in time - its year-end date - showing what the company owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities), and the residual value for shareholders (equity).
The fields available within a balance sheet vary by company size and accounting standard. Under FRS 102 (the UK GAAP standard for small and medium companies) and FRS 105 (the micro-entity standard), the following fields are commonly present in electronic filings:
| Field | Description | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | Everything the company owns that has economic value | Most filings |
| Fixed assets | Long-term assets: property, plant, equipment, intangibles | Most filings |
| Current assets | Short-term assets: cash, debtors, stock, investments | Most filings |
| Total liabilities | All amounts the company owes | Most filings |
| Current liabilities | Debts due within 12 months | Most filings |
| Net assets | Total assets minus total liabilities | Most filings |
| Shareholders' equity | Share capital plus retained earnings | Most filings |
| Prior year comparatives | Previous year figures for comparison | Most filings |
| Employee count | Average number of employees during the period | All electronic filings |
| Turnover | Revenue for the period | Medium and large only |
Balance sheet data from two consecutive years - current year and prior year comparatives - makes it possible to calculate year-on-year growth rates in assets and net assets. These growth rates can serve as proxy signals for business trajectory where revenue is unavailable. A company doubling its asset base year on year is almost certainly growing, even if no turnover figure exists.
4. Profit and loss: when it is and is not available
A profit and loss statement records the company's income and expenses over its accounting period, showing how revenue was generated and what profit or loss resulted. It is the source of turnover, gross profit, operating profit, and EBITDA figures. For UK private companies, a profit and loss statement is only required to be filed publicly by medium and large companies. Small and micro-entity companies are exempt.
Where a profit and loss statement is available in an electronic filing, it typically contains turnover, cost of sales (for medium and large), gross profit, administrative expenses, and operating profit or loss. The exact fields depend on the accounting standard used and how the company's accountants have structured the filing. Not all fields are consistently present even in full accounts.
Some small companies choose to file full accounts voluntarily, including a profit and loss statement, even when they are not required to. This may be to improve creditworthiness, satisfy lender requirements, or support supplier relationships. Where this has happened, turnover and profit figures will be present in the electronic filing and available in structured data products. The hasPLFigures=true parameter in the DataLedger API filters results to companies that have disclosed P&L figures, allowing analysis across only the subset of the register with revenue data.
5. iXBRL filing format and coverage
Financial data can only be reliably extracted at scale from accounts filed in iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format. iXBRL is a structured digital filing format that embeds machine-readable tags alongside the human-readable HTML document, labelling each figure with a standardised identifier from the UK GAAP taxonomy. A figure tagged as "total assets" in one iXBRL filing can be compared directly with the same tag in a million other filings because the label is standardised.
Accounts filed as PDF documents or paper filings do not contain these machine-readable tags. They may contain the same financial information visually, but it cannot be extracted reliably at scale without OCR and AI parsing. The Companies House Accounts Data Product - the free bulk download of all filed accounts - only includes electronically filed iXBRL accounts. Approximately 89% of UK companies that have filed accounts do so electronically. The remainder are filed as paper or PDF and are excluded from bulk financial data products. From April 2028, paper and web filing for accounts closes entirely and all companies must file via third party commercial software, which will bring the remaining paper filers into structured digital filing for the first time.
iXBRL taxonomy inconsistencies are a separate challenge. Different accounting software packages map the same financial concept to different XBRL tags. A figure labelled "total fixed assets" in one taxonomy version may appear under a different tag in another. Producing a clean, comparable dataset from the bulk iXBRL data requires normalisation across taxonomy versions, which is part of the processing work that structured data providers do before making financial data available via API or dataset.
6. Financial ratios from Companies House data
From the balance sheet data consistently available in electronic filings, several useful financial ratios and indicators can be calculated. These are available for far more companies than turnover-based ratios and provide meaningful signals for financial screening, credit assessment, and benchmarking.
| Ratio or indicator | Formula | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Debt-to-equity ratio | Total liabilities / shareholders' equity | Financial leverage and reliance on debt |
| Debt-to-asset ratio | Total liabilities / total assets | Proportion of assets funded by debt |
| Year-on-year asset growth | (Current assets - prior assets) / prior assets | Growth trajectory as a revenue proxy |
| Year-on-year net asset growth | (Current net assets - prior net assets) / prior net assets | Retained value growth over the period |
| Current ratio | Current assets / current liabilities | Short-term liquidity |
| Profit margin | Net profit / turnover | Profitability - only where P&L is disclosed |
DataLedger pre-calculates debt-to-equity ratio, debt-to-asset ratio, year-on-year asset growth, and year-on-year net assets growth for every company record with electronic financial data. These are included with every API response and dataset export without needing separate calculation.
7. How to access financial data from Companies House
There are several routes to Companies House financial data depending on whether you need individual company lookups, bulk access, or analysis-ready structured data.
Individual company lookup
The Companies House web search allows free access to any company's filed accounts as downloadable PDF or iXBRL documents. No account is required. Navigate to the company's filing history tab and download the most recent accounts document. This is straightforward for individual lookups but does not scale to bulk or programmatic use, and financial figures are inside the document rather than returned as structured data.
REST API
The Companies House REST API returns company profiles, filing history, and document metadata in JSON. It does not return parsed financial figures directly - it returns links to the filing documents, which must be downloaded and parsed separately. A free API key is required. Rate limited to 600 requests per five minutes.
Accounts Data Product (bulk iXBRL)
The free Companies House Accounts Data Product provides daily and monthly ZIP files of all electronically filed accounts in iXBRL format. This is the source used to build financial data at scale. It requires an iXBRL parser, schema normalisation, deduplication, and ongoing pipeline maintenance. Covers approximately 89% of UK companies that have filed accounts. From April 2028 this gap closes - paper and web filing for accounts ends and all companies must file electronically via third party software.
Structured data providers
Structured data providers process the bulk iXBRL data and deliver queryable, normalised financial records via API and dataset exports. They add pre-calculated ratios, growth indicators, and the ability to filter at scale by financial criteria. DataLedger provides structured balance sheet data, pre-calculated ratios, and growth indicators for almost 3 million companies, combinable with PSC ownership records and corporate structure data in a single API call. See our full reference guide to what data is available from Companies House for a complete comparison of access methods.
- Most UK companies only disclose balance sheet data.
- Turnover and profit figures are unavailable for many SMEs.
- Balance sheet data remains useful for screening and benchmarking.
- Approximately 89% of accounts are filed electronically and can be structured.
- iXBRL enables large-scale financial analysis across the UK company register.
8. Frequently asked questions
Does Companies House provide financial data for all UK companies?
Companies House holds accounts for all UK limited companies that have filed them, but the financial detail varies by company size. Most UK companies are small or micro-entity and file only a balance sheet - no turnover, no profit, no cash flow. Medium and large companies file fuller accounts including profit and loss. Sole traders and general partnerships are not required to file with Companies House at all.
What is the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement?
A balance sheet is a snapshot of a company's financial position at a specific date, showing what it owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities), and the net equity. A profit and loss statement covers a period of time and shows how the company performed - revenue generated, costs incurred, and profit or loss made. Balance sheets are available for most electronically filing UK companies. Profit and loss statements are only publicly filed by medium and large companies. Small and micro-entity companies are exempt from filing them publicly.
Can I get financial data for a specific company via the Companies House API?
The Companies House REST API returns filing metadata and document links, not parsed financial figures. To retrieve balance sheet numbers from a specific filing, you must download the iXBRL document from the filing history and parse it. Structured data providers such as DataLedger have done this processing and return financial figures directly via their own APIs.
What is iXBRL and why does it matter?
iXBRL is the structured digital format used for electronically filed UK company accounts. It tags each financial figure with a machine-readable identifier, making it possible to extract and compare financial data at scale. Accounts filed as PDF or paper cannot be reliably parsed at scale and are not included in bulk financial data products. Approximately 89% of UK companies that have filed accounts do so electronically.
How current is Companies House financial data?
UK private companies have nine months from their financial year-end to file accounts, and most file close to that deadline. The most recent financial data for any given company typically reflects a period ending six to fifteen months ago. There is no quarterly reporting requirement for private companies - annual filing is the only requirement.
What financial ratios can be calculated from Companies House data?
From balance sheet data consistently available in electronic filings, it is possible to calculate debt-to-equity ratio, debt-to-asset ratio, year-on-year asset growth, and year-on-year net assets growth. Current ratio can also be calculated where current assets and current liabilities are separately disclosed. Turnover-based ratios such as profit margin require P&L figures, which are only available for medium and large companies.
Why do most UK companies only have balance sheet data available?
Most UK companies qualify as small companies or micro-entities under the Companies Act. These businesses are legally allowed to file accounts without a profit and loss statement. As a result, balance sheet information such as assets, liabilities and equity is available far more frequently than turnover or profit figures.
Is there a way to filter UK companies by financial size?
Not through Companies House directly - the free search and API do not support filtering by financial criteria across the register. Structured data providers build this capability from the bulk data. DataLedger supports filtering by total assets, current assets, fixed assets, liabilities, equity, debt ratios, and growth rates via the company search API endpoint. See our guide to what data is available from Companies House for a full comparison.
Information in this guide is based on Companies House filing requirements, Companies Act reporting thresholds and official Companies House guidance.
What DataLedger adds to Companies House financial data
Companies House provides the source filing documents. DataLedger processes electronically filed accounts into structured, analysis-ready records with normalised fields, pre-calculated ratios, verification flags and current-year versus prior-year comparisons. This allows companies to be filtered and compared at scale without downloading and parsing individual filing documents.
Need structured UK company financial data for analysis?
DataLedger provides structured balance sheet data, pre-calculated ratios, growth indicators, and PSC ownership records for almost 3 million UK companies. API with 25 free credits on signup, datasets from £195.