Company House

Company House

The Company House is a colloquial expression for Companies House in UK. In everyday speech, Companies House is called The Company House. This usage is becoming common on the web too.

While searching for Companies House on the web, most users tend to type Company House instead of Companies House. The Google search engine, however, guesses where the users want to go and returns the correct uniform resource locator (URL) of the Companies House at the very top of the results. Same is the case with Yahoo and Ask Jeeves.

Now search engines detect spelling errors and some like Google use stemming technology to suggest variations as well. In case of the search term the 'Company House,' Google displays the correct URL at the top of the results. Same is the case with the search phrase 'Security Exchange Commission,' where Google lists the correct URL of US Securities and Exchange Commission at the top of the results. Either the search engines have gotten smarter (read inference ability), or some institutions are so popular that the search engines list the correct URL every time a variant is typed. The latter looks more likely than the former.

Surprisingly, some web sites also mistakenly refer to Companies House as The Company House. More interestingly, the search phrase, Company House, and its variants such as Companies Houses return paid results of sites that sell company information.

For the record, Companies House is the company registration authority in UK. It incorporates and dissolves companies besides receiving and storing information submitted by companies under the Companies Act and related legislation. The companies registered with The Company House file documents such as annual returns, changes to directorships and annual accounts. The Company House makes this information available to the public.

The Company House has been moving toward a paperless future in the past few years. It is encouraging companies to file annual returns electronically through initiatives such as Web Filing. In 2004-05, 12 per cent of documents were filed electronically, up from 8 per cent in the previous year. The Company House intends to push the electronically-filed documents to 50 per cent of all documents filed by 2007. Similarly, The Company House is increasing electronic access to documents through initiatives such as WebCheck.

In recent months, The Company House together with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) launched a new initiative to prevent the hijacking of a company's identity. Criminals hijack a company's identity and use its credit to buy goods and services. The corporate sector loses an estimated £50 million a year because of company identity theft.

The Company House and the MPS recommend four steps to prevent hijacking of corporate identity theft. First, companies are advised to check if their registered address on the records of The Company House is correct or fraudulently changed. Second, companies are advised to switch over to the Protected Online Filing System. Once a company opts for this system, then all statutory forms have to be filed electronically-negating the possibility of criminals making paper submissions of statutory forms. Third, companies are advised to sign up for an email alert service, which alerts them to any changes in their records.

Indeed Companies House or The Company House, as it is popularly known, is among the progressive company registration authorities in the world. It is making company registration and regulatory compliance less burdensome while providing electronic access to information submitted by companies.