what are year end accounts

Year end accounts – sometimes called statutory accounts or annual accounts – are a formal record of your company’s financial activity over the past 12 months. They include your income, your spending, what you own, and what you owe. For anyone outside the business, like HMRC or a potential investor, they’re the official picture of your company’s health .

These accounts serve two masters. You file one version with Companies House, where they become public record. And you file another (with more detail) with HMRC as part of your Company Tax Return. The numbers are basically the same, but HMRC gets the full story while Companies House gets a slightly slimmed‑down version if you’re a small company .

what is accounting year end

Your accounting year end is simply the date you choose to close your books each year. For a limited company, it’s usually the last day of your chosen accounting period – often, but not always, the anniversary of your company’s incorporation .

You can pick any date when you set up the company, and you can change it later (within reason) if you want to align with a quiet period or match the tax year. But once it’s set, that date determines your deadlines for filing with Companies House and HMRC .

For example, if your year end is 31 March, your accounts will cover 1 April to 31 March each year. If it’s 31 December, you’re running January to December. The date itself doesn’t matter hugely, but it’s worth picking one that makes sense for your business – maybe after a busy season when you’ve got time to sort the paperwork .

what is year end in accounting

In accounting terms, “year end” is the cut‑off point. It’s when you stop adding transactions to the current year and start a new period. You’ll run something called a trial balance, make sure all your sales and purchases are accounted for, and then produce the final set of accounts .

It’s also when you sort out things like:

• Depreciation – spreading the cost of equipment over several years
• Stock valuations – what’s left in the warehouse at the year end
• Accruals and prepayments – money you owe or have paid in advance
• Dividends – if the company’s profitable, you might declare a dividend

For most directors, this is where an accountant earns their keep. It’s not that you couldn’t do it yourself – but the adjustments can be fiddly, and getting them wrong means your figures don’t match what HMRC expects .

year end accounts checklist uk

If you want to make the year end process smoother, having a checklist helps. Here’s what we suggest gathering before you or your accountant start preparing the accounts:

• Bank statements – for the whole year, including any foreign currency accounts
• Sales invoices – a list of everything you’ve invoiced, plus anything owed at the year end
• Purchase invoices – what you’ve spent, including any unpaid bills
• Payslips and payroll summaries – salaries, pensions, and any HMRC payments
• VAT returns – if you’re VAT registered, the summaries help tie everything together
• Loan statements – for any directors’ loans or bank borrowing
• Asset purchases – anything expensive bought during the year (computers, machinery, vehicles)
• Dividend vouchers – if you’ve paid dividends, you need a record of them
• Last year’s accounts – handy for checking you haven’t missed anything and for spotting recurring adjustments

A director once showed up at our door two days before his filing deadline with a cardboard box stuffed full of receipts. We got the accounts done, but it was a close‑run thing. If you keep things tidy through the year, year end becomes a much calmer experience .

how to prepare year end accounts uk

The actual preparation of year end accounts usually follows a set pattern. Here’s how it typically works:

1. Gather your records – using the checklist above, pull everything together
2. Update your books – make sure all transactions to the year end are entered, whether you use software or spreadsheets
3. Reconcile your bank accounts – double‑check that what’s in your records matches what the bank says
4. Tackle the adjustments – things like depreciation, stock takes, accruals, prepayments, and any other year‑end tweaks that need making
5. Draft the accounts – produce a balance sheet, profit and loss, and the supporting notes
6. Review and check – look for anything odd, like missing invoices or unexpected figures
7. File with Companies House and HMRC – send the statutory accounts to Companies House, and the full accounts plus a tax computation to HMRC as part of your Company Tax Return

Most company directors we know use an accountant for steps 4 through 7. But even if you outsource it, getting step 1 done early makes a big difference. An organised set of records means your accountant isn’t charging you to rummage through a pile of paper .

hmrc year end accounts requirements

HMRC expects to see your full annual accounts as part of the Company Tax Return. You file this online – most accounting software does it directly, or you can use HMRC’s own portal. The deadline is 12 months after the end of the accounting period. So if your year end is 31 March 2026, you’ve got until 31 March 2027 to file the return and settle up any Corporation Tax .

But there’s a catch – the tax itself is due much earlier. For most companies, you need to pay any Corporation Tax nine months and one day after the year end. So for a 31 March year end, that means 1 January of the following year. The return can wait until the 12‑month mark, but HMRC wants the money in their account well before then .

HMRC also expects your accounts to follow UK GAAP – that’s Generally Accepted Accounting Practice – or FRS 102/105 depending on your company’s size. In plain English, it means the figures need to be put together consistently, using the same rules each year, and include things like depreciation and accruals where they apply .

companies house year end accounts deadline

Companies House runs on a different timetable. You’ve got nine months from your year end to file your statutory accounts with them. So for a year end of 31 March 2026, the filing deadline is 31 December 2026 .

Miss that date and you’ll get an automatic penalty – £150 if you’re up to a month late, rising all the way to £1,500 if you’re six months late. And it goes on your public record, so anyone checking your company file can see you missed the deadline .

Small companies can file a simpler set of accounts at Companies House – less detail, fewer pages – but HMRC still gets the full version with everything included. If you’re a micro‑entity, there’s an even more stripped‑down format. Your accountant will know which category you fall into .