The loan we lost because of how we filed our accounts

The application was not ambitious. A company with three good trading years, growing steadily, asking for a facility that was comfortably covered by profits. The owner expected a formality.

The decline came back with almost no explanation. The broker's read was blunter than the lender's: on paper you look like a company with a small balance sheet, no visible profit and no visible track record, because that is all you have ever filed.

Nothing about the accounts was wrong. They were prepared correctly, filed on time, entirely legal. They were also, as far as anyone outside the business could tell, nearly empty.

What the outside world can actually see

Small companies and micro-entities have long been able to file less than they prepare. The full accounts — including the profit and loss account and the directors' report — go to the shareholders and to HMRC. What gets filed at Companies House, and therefore what is public, can be stripped back.

'Filleted' accounts are full accounts with the profit and loss account and directors' report removed before filing. 'Abridged' accounts are prepared with less detail in the first place, with shareholder agreement. Either way, the public record often shows a balance sheet and some notes and nothing else.

There are perfectly sensible reasons to do it. You may not want competitors reading your margins, or customers estimating them, or staff drawing conclusions about what the business earns. Most accountants file this way by default, and most owners have never been asked whether they want to.

The trade-off is rarely spelled out: you have made your turnover, your gross margin, your profit and your trend invisible to everyone who might want to lend to you, supply you on credit, or buy from you.

Why a thin filing reads as risk

Credit reference agencies score companies largely from public data, and lenders lean on those scores heavily for smaller facilities where a human never reads the file.

Feed a scoring model a balance sheet with no profit and loss and it does not conclude 'private but healthy'. It fills the gaps with sector averages and caps what it will infer, because it cannot see the thing that actually matters — whether you make money and whether that is improving. The output is a modest limit and a cautious grade, which is exactly the outcome a good trading year should have prevented.

The same public record is what a prospective supplier checks before granting trade credit, and what a large customer's procurement team looks at before signing you up. Invisibility is neutral at best and negative in practice.

Filing the legal minimum is not a neutral choice. It is a decision to be assessed on the least flattering interpretation of the little you have shown.

Late filing is worse than thin filing

If a thin filing quietly costs you credit, a late one costs you visibly.

Companies House penalties for a private company are £150 for accounts up to a month late, £375 for one to three months, £750 for three to six months and £1,500 beyond six months — and every one of those doubles if you also filed late the previous year. File on time for one year and you reset to the standard band.

The penalty is the smaller half of the problem. A late filing sits on the public record permanently, and credit scoring treats it as a direct signal of distress. Plenty of businesses have found their credit limits cut by suppliers within weeks of a late filing, having never missed a payment to anyone. It is also, unlike most of this, entirely within your control — which is why the Companies House obligations directors keep ignoring are worth taking seriously well before you need to borrow.

What changes from April 2028

The choice is going away, and it is worth planning for rather than being surprised by.

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, small companies and micro-entities will have to file a profit and loss account at Companies House. The change was originally due in April 2027, was paused in early 2026, and Companies House has since confirmed it will take effect from April 2028, with at least a full accounting year plus nine months of notice.

Two other changes land at the same time. All companies will have to file accounts using commercial software with the figures tagged in iXBRL, and the web and paper filing routes for accounts will close. And the option to file abridged accounts is being removed.

So the medium-term reality is that your profit and loss will be filed regardless. The remaining question is whether you spend the next eighteen months building a visible track record on your own terms, or arrive at the deadline with a public history that starts abruptly.

What to do before your next application

First, look at your own company at Companies House as an outsider would. Most owners have never done this and are surprised by how little is there.

Second, ask your accountant explicitly what is filed versus what is prepared, and why. It is a decision, not a default, and the reasoning should be about competitive sensitivity rather than habit.

Third, if you expect to borrow in the next two years, weigh filing more rather than less. A filed profit and loss showing three years of improving results is the cheapest credibility available, and the confidentiality you are protecting is often theoretical — competitors rarely read filings; lenders always do.

Fourth, check your credit file with the agencies directly and correct anything wrong. Errors are common, and a wrong SIC code or a stale director record can cost you more than the accounts do — worth doing alongside understanding what lenders actually see in your credit score.

And file early. Not on time — early. It costs nothing, it is the clearest signal of a business in control of itself, and it is the one item on this list you can act on this week. When you do come to apply, knowing exactly what a lender asks for is the other half of the job.

Common questions

What are filleted accounts and can small companies still file them?

Filleted accounts are full accounts with the profit and loss account and directors' report removed before filing at Companies House, so the public record shows only the balance sheet and certain notes. Abridged accounts are a related option prepared with less detail in the first place, with shareholder agreement. Both remain available to small companies and micro-entities for now, and most accountants file this way by default. That changes from April 2028, when small companies and micro-entities will be required to file a profit and loss account and the abridged option is removed under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Do filleted accounts affect my ability to get a business loan?

They can, particularly for smaller facilities assessed largely by automated credit scoring rather than by a person reading your file. Credit reference agencies score companies from public data, and a balance sheet with no profit and loss gives the model nothing to work with on turnover, margin, profitability or trend. It does not infer that you are private but healthy — it substitutes sector assumptions and caps what it will conclude, producing a modest limit and a cautious grade. The same public record is what suppliers check before granting trade credit and what large customers review before onboarding you.

What are the penalties for filing company accounts late?

For a private company the Companies House penalties are £150 for accounts up to one month late, £375 for one to three months, £750 for three to six months, and £1,500 for more than six months. Every band doubles if you also filed late in the previous financial year, and filing on time for one year resets you to the standard rate. The penalty is usually the smaller cost: a late filing stays on the public record permanently and credit scoring treats it as a distress signal, so suppliers and lenders commonly cut limits within weeks even where the business has never missed a payment.

What is changing at Companies House in April 2028?

Small companies and micro-entities will be required to file a profit and loss account, removing the option to keep it off the public record. The change was originally scheduled for April 2027, was paused in early 2026, and has since been confirmed for April 2028, with companies given at least a full accounting year plus nine months to prepare. At the same time, all companies will have to file accounts through commercial software with figures tagged in iXBRL, and the existing web and paper filing routes for accounts will close. The option to file abridged accounts is also being removed.