Understanding company accounts and financial health

Every UK limited company must file annual accounts with Companies House. These accounts are the primary source of financial data that Senserity uses to assess a company's financial health. Understanding what accounts contain, and what they leave out, helps you interpret the Financial category scores in a company's risk profile.

Types of accounts

The level of detail in filed accounts depends on the size of the company. UK accounting rules define four main categories:

Micro-entity accounts. The smallest companies (turnover under £632,000, balance sheet under £316,000, fewer than 10 employees) can file extremely abbreviated accounts. These typically contain only a balance sheet and a few notes. They do not include a profit and loss statement or turnover figure. For risk assessment, this means very little financial data is available.

Small company accounts. Companies with turnover under £10.2 million, balance sheet under £5.1 million, and fewer than 50 employees can file abridged accounts. These include a balance sheet and may include a profit and loss statement, but turnover disclosure is optional. Many small companies choose not to disclose turnover.

Medium company accounts. Companies with turnover under £36 million, balance sheet under £18 million, and fewer than 250 employees file accounts with more detail, including turnover and a directors' report.

Full accounts. Large companies file full accounts with a complete profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, directors' report, and notes. These give the richest picture of financial health.

The type of accounts filed is itself a signal. A company that has recently moved from small to micro-entity filing may be shrinking. A company that files full accounts is operating at a scale where more scrutiny is expected and more data is available.

What Senserity extracts

Most companies file their accounts electronically in iXBRL format, which Senserity can parse automatically. From these filings, Senserity extracts:

Net assets. Total assets minus total liabilities. A negative net asset position means the company owes more than it owns, which is a significant risk signal.

Shareholder funds. The equity attributable to shareholders, which reflects the company's accumulated financial position. Declining shareholder funds over several filing periods can indicate a business consuming its own capital.

Working capital. Current assets minus current liabilities. This measures whether the company can meet its short-term obligations. A persistent working capital deficit suggests the company may struggle to pay suppliers on time.

Cash position. The amount of cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet. Cash-poor companies are more vulnerable to unexpected costs or payment delays.

Turnover and profitability. Where disclosed, Senserity tracks revenue and profit or loss across filing periods to identify trends. A company with falling revenue and widening losses is on a different risk trajectory from one with stable or growing income.

Employee count. The number of employees, where reported, provides context for the company's operational scale and can reveal growth or contraction trends.

When financial data is missing

Many smaller companies file accounts that contain very little usable financial data. A micro-entity filing might show only total assets, total liabilities, and shareholder funds, with no turnover, no profit figure, and no cash breakdown.

Senserity handles this by scoring based on what is available. If only net assets and shareholder funds are present, the Financial category score is calculated from those figures alone. Missing data does not automatically produce a poor score, but it does mean less confidence in the assessment. Senserity flags the level of financial data availability so you can see how much evidence underpins the score.

For companies that file their accounts as PDF documents rather than in iXBRL format, Senserity offers AI-powered extraction as a paid enrichment. This reads the PDF filing and extracts financial figures into a structured format. See How enrichment works for details.

Filing behaviour as a risk signal

Beyond the numbers themselves, the way a company handles its filing obligations tells you something about how it is managed.

Overdue accounts. Companies must file their accounts within nine months of their financial year end (six months for public companies). Late filing incurs automatic penalties from Companies House and may indicate that the company is in financial difficulty, has lost its accountant, or has governance problems.

Filing gaps. A company that has missed one or more filing cycles entirely is a stronger warning sign than one that files late. Persistent non-filing can lead to compulsory strike-off.

Dormant accounts. A company that files dormant accounts is declaring that it has had no significant transactions during the period. If Senserity finds other evidence of activity (such as recent officer changes, active charges, or a live trading website), this inconsistency is flagged.

Audit status. Larger companies are required to have their accounts audited. A company that was previously audited and has dropped to unaudited filing may have changed its reporting structure, but it can also indicate that it no longer meets the thresholds for audit exemption, or that it has chosen to forgo external scrutiny.

Senserity runs tests on all of these signals as part of its Financial and Compliance categories.

Last updated 29 April 2026.