For all of you who run limited companies you should have recently received an envelope that looks a bit like this…
Companies House Letter
This contains a short guide to the key things you will need to know about new laws that will be implemented from the 1st October 2009. The key things to affect most small businesses are the following:-
- The filing deadline for accounts is one month shorter, your accounts have to be completed and filed in nine months
- For new companies you don’t need to have a company secretary but you can choose to appoint one
- You can sign your company up for the PROOF scheme which helps to protect your company from hijack
- The companies memorandum and articles are changing for the first time in over a hundred years
What this means in real terms for you and your business affecting you here and you now is the reduced filing time to nine months giving you less time to complete your accounts. However there are hidden items to bear in mind. From 1 October 2009 every new company will be issued with an updated articles which replace the current memorandum and articles.
The memorandum and articles, if standard forms were used, that will have been set up when you first formed your company were first written in the 19th century and have changed very little over the last 100 years. They were drafted without the future knowledge of internet, emails and telephone conferencing. Everything in them is strict and formal and that is how the company will be expected to operate ad infinitum.
This presents no problems until you wish to change something to do with the company such as a merger with another company, offer shares to an employee or if you take over someone elses business. Then you will need to legally update the articles to the modern standard and to do this after the 1st October 2009 may prove to be costly.
For the remainder of September 2009 we have a limited time fixed price offer to help you to update your memorandum and articles to the new standard and sign you up for the PROOF scheme. You will need to provide us with your company authentication code which may have to be requested from Companies House. Visit our website for our contact details www.simplyabc.co.uk
