We get our data from a wide range of sources, the main one being Companies House, almost all our data stems from here.
In this blog, we’re going to give you an overview of Companies House and highlight some strengths and limitations and how The Data City is using this data to provide real-time industrial classification codes.
Overview of Companies House
Companies House is the UK’s official registrar of companies. It’s an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. Headquartered in Cardiff, with additional offices in Edinburgh, Belfast, and London, it is responsible for incorporating, maintaining, and dissolving limited companies.
Companies House handles company registrations for England and Wales in Cardiff, for Scotland in Edinburgh, and for Northern Ireland in Belfast.
Every single registered company in the UK must file their accounts with Companies House making it a comprehensive library of business information. The data available includes company registration numbers, address and incorporation dates, and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.
Importance of Companies House Data
Companies House data is invaluable for a whole host of business activities. It is crucial for practicing due diligence, whether that’s assessing potential investments, verifying a business’s legitimacy, or understanding corporate structures.
The data includes annual accounts, confirmation statements, and event-based filings, which offer insights into a company’s financial health, shareholder structure, and operational changes.
For example, annual accounts reveal a company’s financial position, including assets and liabilities. Confirmation statements offer a snapshot of company directors, shareholders, and SIC codes. Event-based filings, such as changes in company name, registered address, or director appointments, provide updates on significant events.
Limitations of Using Companies House Data
Search functionality
Despite its value, Companies House data comes with a few challenges. One major issue is the limited search functionality.
Users can only search by company name or number, making it difficult to discover new companies or conduct detailed analyses based on specific criteria, for example analysing all of the companies in a particular sector.
Additionally, much of the data is stored in image-based PDFs, which are not searchable, making data extraction time-consuming and frustrating.
Accuracy
Accuracy is another challenge. Companies House is not required to verify the accuracy of the information filed, leaving room for errors and inaccuracies.
For example, financial filings can contain incorrect valuations or misreported figures, which can mislead users. Furthermore, SIC codes, which classify business activities, are outdated and often fail to describe modern tech sectors accurately. The SIC codes on Companies House haven’t been updated since 2007. They’re plans to update SIC in 2025 but this will only be a small revision.
Here’s another example, did you know it’s not possible to grow rice in the UK? However, this sector grew by a factor of 20 in the post pandemic years. Coincidentally, the growing of rice is one of the first in the entire list of SIC codes.
To overcome these limitations, we created Real Time Industrial Classifications (or (RTICs™). These are The Data City’s proprietary system for classifying companies in real time so you can liberate yourself from outdated SIC codes.
Our RTICs are built with industry experts and enable you to discover emerging sectors and build custom classifications.
In summary
Companies House is a vital resource for business information, but it has significant limitations.
By understanding these challenges and utilising advanced tools, like The Data City you can maximise the benefits of Companies House data for informed decision-making.
As part of our work building a global version of our product, we’ve considered equivalents to Companies House across the globe. We’re very grateful for the depth of data that Companies House offers. That said, there are limitations in the classification and verification of the data filed with them.
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Looking for something specific? Companies House has some helpful guides, you can find them here: Companies House: guidance for limited companies, partnerships and other company types – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
