Horrified : every UK company balance sheet one-click away !

[Nathan SJD Accountancy]

LOL, according to that website, my co had liabilities of nearly .5 Million in 2006 !!!!

That's not good if true. It's not though Where TF do they get some of that info from ?

I believe they get all of their information from the Year End Abbreviated Accounts that are submitted to Companies House.

Liabilities could have been made up of; corporation tax relating to that year, PAYE, creditors, VAT.

Have a quick look at your 2006 set of Abbreviated Accounts that were submitted. If they are stating it as .5m on that site, that is what I would expect to see on your statement of financial position (balance sheet) under the 'Creditors' heading, possibly page 2.

I am open to being corrected, but I believe it is all from the Abbreviated Accounts.

[TestMangler]

I believe they get all of their information from the Year End Abbreviated Accounts that are submitted to Companies House.

Liabilities could have been made up of; corporation tax relating to that year, PAYE, creditors, VAT.

Have a quick look at your 2006 set of Abbreviated Accounts that were submitted. If they are stating it as .5m on that site, that is what I would expect to see on your statement of financial position (balance sheet) under the 'Creditors' heading, possibly page 2.

I am open to being corrected, but I believe it is all from the Abbreviated Accounts.

TBH, none of the graphs look accurate all through the time period shown.

Other than that, i've just had an enormously good hour looking up all the dodgy F'kers I know

[mudskipper]

TBH, none of the graphs look accurate all through the time period shown.

Other than that, i've just had an enormously good hour looking up all the dodgy F'kers I know

WHS.

I think the trick is to be called John Smith.

[northernladuk]

LOL, according to that website, my co had liabilities of nearly .5 Million in 2006 !!!!

That's not good if true. It's not though Where TF do they get some of that info from ?

There is only one liability to worry about at TestMangler Ltd

[SarahL2012]

Try: www.companiesintheuk.co.uk

They show a nice picture of your house using Google street view (assuming your company address is your home address)

Like this website! Showing my neighbours house though - but does seem to have been taken on a lovely sunny day!

[VectraMan]

Try: www.companiesintheuk.co.uk

They show a nice picture of your house using Google street view (assuming your company address is your home address)

That one's never heard of My Co. Only being going for 7 years.

The director one found me at my old address and a dissolved company I was a director of 10 years ago, but no mention of the current or more recent plan B ( now disolved ) company.

[SueEllen]

1) Is it legally feasible ?

Yes

2) Would it be a problem for agencies to be billed by a UK ltd whose director is a proxy and whose main shareholder is an offshore company rather than a private person ?

Yes.

My current and my last agency plus some of my direct clients will not engage companies where the main person they are dealing with is doesn't hold a key position i.e. director in the company they are dealing with.

3) Using that legal structure would my name stay completely invisible from the UK ltd company info and operations

Nope.

If someone can be bothered they will be able to trace your company and find out you are the director in the holding company.

I think all EU countries put limited company information in the public domain and lots of other countries do as well.

4) Any other potential flaws you can think about ?

It looks damn dodgy and someone is more likely to investigate you because you are trying to hide your information.

[zedAccounts]

Hi all,
I've recently discovered with horror that some companies provide the balance sheet of my own ltd, as every other UK ltd, on the web for free for the whole world to see (you used to have to go through the process of registering and paying a few quids to do that). A simple google search on my company name (or even my own personal name !) provides my company balance sheet data in the first result page, just one-click away ! Personally I find this horribly intrusive and it sickens me.

I would advise submitting the minimum information to CH, i.e. abbrev accounts, filling in only the mandatory fields.

ZED.

[DannyR]

Thank you all for your enlightening answers

I have now the following questions and answers :

1) Would the abbreviated accounts (suggested by several people in this thread) reveal the company balance sheet ?

2) SueEllen says :

My current and my last agency plus some of my direct clients will not engage companies where the main person they are dealing with is doesn't hold a key position i.e. director in the company they are dealing with.

If I'm correct, in case of an umbrella, the agency / client deals with the umbrella representative for all the administrative stuff even the contract signatures so what's the difference for the agency / client to deal with an ltd nominee director ?

Can I ask you which sector of activity you work in ?

Regarding

I think all EU countries put limited company information in the public domain and lots of other countries do as well.

: some countries outside of the EU (usually in small islands) treat private companies as... private, so this should not be a problem in these countries.

3) Quite a few people have used the word "paranoid". As Andy Grove would say (although in another context) "Only the paranoid survive".

It seems lots of people do not care at all about their privacy in this forum and elsewhere :

4) I am wondering why then they prefer using a pseudonym rather than their real name in forums ?

5) Also I wonder if they would be happy to let me go freely in their home, install a webcam in their toilet bowl and have a google query on their name present the realtime webcam live footage accompanied with a "best-of <their name> in the loo" available for free to everybody in the world to see ?

6) Would they also be happy to have all their personal bank account records, all the websites they ever visited, all the google queries they ever made, all the forum messages, emails, text messages they ever sent, every personal data you can think of, available to everybody ?

7) And in the future would they be happy to have no choice but have all the realtime and historical textual and visual detailed record of their brain processes, thoughts and actions available for everybody on the planet to search, query and replay for free and forever ?

Personally I think it's enslaving, dehumanizing and wrong specially if no choice is given.

Also privacy is like security (actually it's one of the pillars of security) : it obviously cannot be completely infallible it's just a question of how much effort people / organizations are willing to put to break it.

Thank you in advance for your enlightening answers.

Cheers.

[northernladuk]

Regarding : some countries outside of the EU (usually in small islands) treat private companies as... private, so this should not be a problem in these countries.

[/quote]
I wouldn't bank on that in the current climate.

3) Quite a few people have used the word "paranoid". As Andy Grove would say (although in another context) "Only the paranoid survive".

Any of the following sound familiar to you?

What is Paranoid Personality Disorder?
PPD is a type of psychological personality disorder characterized by an extreme level of distrust and suspicion of others. Paranoid personalities are generally difficult to get along with, and their combative and distrustful nature often elicits hostility in others. The negative social interactions that result from their behavior then serve to confirm and reinforce their original pessimistic expectations. Needless to say, those with PPD are unlikely to form many close relationships and are typically perceived as cold and distant. They are quick to challenge the loyalty of friends and loved ones and tend to carry long grudges (Dobbert 2007, Kantor 2004).

It seems lots of people do not care at all about their privacy in this forum and elsewhere :

4) I am wondering why then they prefer using a pseudonym rather than their real name in forums ?

5) Also I wonder if they would be happy to let me go freely in their home, install a webcam in their toilet bowl and have a google query on their name present the realtime webcam live footage accompanied with a "best-of <their name> in the loo" available for free to everybody in the world to see ?

6) Would they also be happy to have all their personal bank account records, all the websites they ever visited, all the google queries they ever made, all the forum messages, emails, text messages they ever sent, every personal data you can think of, available to everybody ?

7) And in the future would they be happy to have no choice but have all the realtime and historical textual and visual detailed record of their brain processes, thoughts and actions available for everybody on the planet to search, query and replay for free and forever ?

Personally I think it's enslaving, dehumanizing and wrong specially if no choice is given.

Also privacy is like security (actually it's one of the pillars of security) : it obviously cannot be completely infallible it's just a question of how much effort people / organizations are willing to put to break it.

Thank you in advance for your enlightening answers.

Cheers.

What the **** are you on about? I am finding you hard to get on with and you seen cold and distant