Hamish Perry and Anna Schwarze write for The Times on Companies House becoming a more active enforcement agent

An era of corporate governance has landed with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) 2023, which introduces wide-ranging reforms that have and will continue to affect how businesses, their officers and advisers manage the subject.

Last year’s legislation sets out an agenda to combat financial crime, improve the accuracy of company data and increase the accountability of individuals involved in corporate activities.

Now enter Companies House, the register of businesses in the UK. In previous years, it has been a passive, administrative operation. A scandal this year, which involved 800 apparently incorrect filings made to Companies House by one account, claiming charges for more than 190 companies had been satisfied, illustrates that point. As does the fact that — according to a report from the think tank Tax Policy Associates — out of 4,430 active public limited companies, 132 failed to file annual accounts on time by August 1 this year.

However, Hamish Perry, Partner, supported by Anna Schwarze, Associate, both in our Corporate team, explain in an opinion piece for The Times that Companies House now appears to be morphing into an "active apparatus of accountability, scrutiny and enforcement".

In the piece, they walk readers through the steps that has led Companies House to depart from its former position as a "passive registrar of company information" and warn that "it will be the responsibility of businesses to adapt swiftly and ensure that robust compliance frameworks are put in place."

Read the full article in The Times here (subscription required).