Year-end accounts for a limited company shouldn’t feel like a yearly panic. In reality, it’s a predictable process with a clear timeline — if you know what your accountant needs and you get it over in the right order.
This article walks you through exactly that: what to prepare, when to send it, and how to avoid the common delays that push filings right up against deadlines (or past them).
We’ll keep it practical, in plain English, with a simple goal: help you get your year-end sorted quickly, keep your company compliant, and make sure you understand what’s happening — instead of just signing something you haven’t had time to read.
If you want the quick version of what year-end includes, start here: Company Accounts.
What “year-end accounts” actually means for a limited company
When people say “year-end”, they usually mean 2 things that are connected, but not identical:
- Statutory accounts filed with Companies House (your annual accounts)
- Corporation Tax calculations and the Company Tax Return (CT600) filed with HMRC
There are different deadlines for each.
For most private limited companies, the key dates are:
- File annual accounts with Companies House: 9 months after your financial year end
- Pay Corporation Tax (or tell HMRC there’s none due): 9 months and 1 day after your Corporation Tax accounting period ends
- File the Company Tax Return (CT600): 12 months after the accounting period ends
That’s the official framework. Your job is to make sure your accountant gets what they need early enough to do the work properly — not rush it in the final week.
If you’d like a broader view of how we support limited companies day-to-day (not just at year-end), have a look at Limited Company Accountants.
Your year-end timeline (the simple version)
Here’s a timeline that works well for most small limited companies. You don’t have to follow it perfectly — but the closer you are, the smoother the year-end becomes.
Week 1–2 after year-end
- Stop making changes to last year’s bookkeeping
- Reconcile bank accounts up to the year-end date
- Gather missing invoices/receipts
- Confirm what you paid yourself (salary/dividends/expenses)
Week 3–6 after year-end
- Send your accountant your bookkeeping file and year-end pack (we’ll detail this below)
- Flag anything unusual (new vehicle, big equipment purchase, loan, grants, bad debts, etc.)
- Confirm director/shareholder changes (if any)
Month 2–4 after year-end
- Draft accounts and tax computation prepared
- Questions raised and answered
- Final figures agreed (so you can plan cash flow and tax)
By month 9 (Companies House deadline)
- Annual accounts filed with Companies House
By month 9 + 1 day (Corporation Tax payment deadline)
- Corporation Tax paid (if due)
By month 12 (CT600 deadline)
- Company Tax Return filed with HMRC
If you’re thinking: “We never work that early” — that’s fine. But if you can even move from month 8 to month 5, it’s usually enough to avoid stress, reduce errors, and prevent last-minute surprises.
What your accountant needs from you (the full checklist)
Think of this like a “year-end pack”. The clearer and more complete it is, the faster your accounts can be produced.
1) Your bookkeeping records (the non-negotiable)
Your accountant needs either:
- access to your bookkeeping software (QuickBooks, Xero, etc.), or
- your spreadsheets/cashbook and supporting documents
If you’re using software and want it set up properly (so year-end isn’t a cleanup job), this is exactly where Quickbooks Accountants support helps.
You should also provide:
- a list of your business bank accounts
- bank feeds (if applicable)
- confirmation that reconciliations are done up to the year-end date
If your bookkeeping is behind, don’t guess. It’s usually faster (and cheaper long term) to get it cleaned properly using Book Keeping support than to scramble and submit incomplete information.
2) Bank statements and loan statements
Even if you use software, your accountant may still ask for:
- PDF bank statements for the year (or at least the year-end months)
- loan statements (business loans, CBILS/BBLs where relevant, director loans)
- finance/HP agreements (if you’ve bought a vehicle or equipment)
These documents help confirm balances and spot anything that’s been miscategorised.
3) Sales information
Your accountant needs to understand how you earn money, and whether sales are complete and correctly recorded.
Provide:
- sales invoices (or a sales report)
- details of any platforms (Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Shopify, etc.)
- year-end outstanding invoices (what customers still owed you)
- any sales you wrote off as bad debts
If you provide services and invoice after the work is done, year-end cut-off matters. If you do project work, it matters even more.
4) Purchases and expenses (with evidence)
This is the biggest delay point for most companies.
Provide:
- major supplier invoices
- receipts for business purchases
- mileage logs (if you claim mileage)
- home office expenses (if you claim them)
- anything paid personally that should be reimbursed
A good habit: keep a simple “missing receipts” list and clear it monthly, not yearly.
5) Payroll records (if you run payroll)
If you pay yourself a salary (director payroll) or employ staff, your accountant needs:
- payroll reports for the year
- P60s and P11Ds (if applicable)
- pension contributions and workplace pension reports
- any benefits or expenses paid via payroll
If payroll is a pain point, Payroll Services support helps you stay compliant and tidy all year, not just at year-end.
6) Dividends and director pay (a common problem area)
If you take dividends, your accountant needs:
- dividend vouchers (or at least dividend dates and amounts)
- confirmation of shareholdings (who owns what %)
- whether dividends were paid regularly or occasionally
If you’ve taken money out without calling it salary or dividends, it often goes through the director’s loan account — which matters a lot at year-end.
7) Director’s loan account (this one matters more than most people realise)
If you’ve ever paid for business costs personally, or taken money out of the company informally, your director’s loan account can move around.
Your accountant needs to know:
- money you’ve lent to the company
- money the company owes you
- money you owe the company (if you’ve overdrawn)
This affects how your accounts look, and it can affect tax treatment.
8) VAT returns and VAT scheme info (if VAT registered)
If you’re VAT registered, provide:
- VAT returns for the year
- confirmation of the VAT scheme (standard / flat rate / cash accounting, etc.)
- any VAT inspections or queries
- reconciled VAT control account (ideally)
If VAT is part of your service bundle, it should be routine rather than a year-end scramble. That’s where VAT Returns support keeps things smooth.
9) Fixed assets and big purchases
If you bought any of the following, flag it early:
- vehicles
- computers/equipment
- machinery/tools
- furniture
- anything expensive that will last more than 1 year
Your accountant will decide whether it’s a normal expense or needs to be treated as an asset and depreciated. That affects your profit (and therefore your Corporation Tax).
10) Stock and work in progress (if you sell goods or projects)
If you carry stock, you’ll need a stock valuation at year-end.
If you do long projects, your accountant may ask about work in progress (WIP) — especially if you’ve done work but haven’t invoiced yet.
11) Other income or “one-off” events
These often cause delays because they’re forgotten until late.
Tell your accountant if you had:
- insurance payouts
- grants
- refunds
- asset sales
- foreign income (even small amounts)
- any unusual transactions
The earlier you mention it, the easier it is to deal with correctly.
12) Companies House and HMRC basics (the admin bits)
Make sure your accountant has:
- company number
- UTR (Corporation Tax)
- registered office address
- confirmation statement info (if needed)
- any HMRC letters/notices received
If you’re unsure where to start, you can always use Contact Us and we’ll tell you exactly what we need based on your situation.
What your accountant does with all this (so you know what’s happening)
Once your accountant has the information, the work typically breaks down like this:
1) Clean up the accounts data
- reconcile balances
- correct mispostings
- confirm VAT treatment (if relevant)
- ensure payroll, dividends, and director’s loan account are reflected properly
2) Prepare statutory accounts for Companies House
This is your official set of accounts that gets filed. For small companies, it’s often abbreviated/filleted accounts, but it still needs to be corrected.
3) Prepare the Corporation Tax computation and CT600
This turns your accounting profit into taxable profit and calculates Corporation Tax.
If you want the HMRC-facing side explained more simply, Asmat’s Tax Return page gives you a good overview of what’s involved.
4) Send you a draft to review (and ask questions)
A good accountant will flag:
- any missing info
- anything that looks unusual
- what your Corporation Tax bill is likely to be
- anything you should change going forward
5) File and confirm
- accounts filed with Companies House by the deadline
- Corporation Tax paid by the deadline (if due)
- CT600 filed by the deadline
The biggest mistakes that slow year-end down (and how you avoid them)
Mistake 1: Mixing personal and business spending
This creates messy director loan accounts and extra questions. If you can, keep separate accounts and keep it clean month-to-month.
Mistake 2: Leaving bookkeeping until the last minute
If your books are 6 months behind, your “accounts” job becomes a “rebuild your records” job.
Mistake 3: Not tracking what you paid yourself
Salary, dividends, reimbursed expenses — it all needs to be recorded properly, not guessed.
Mistake 4: Forgetting about VAT and payroll links
VAT, payroll, and year-end accounts don’t sit in separate boxes. If one is wrong, it often shows up at year-end.
Mistake 5: Waiting until month 8 to ask “how much tax will I owe?”
Corporation Tax is due 9 months and 1 day after your accounting period ends.
You don’t want to discover the bill when you’ve got 2 weeks to pay it.
A practical “year-end pack” you can copy/paste into your notes
Use this as your year-end prep list:
- Bookkeeping file/software access (reconciled to year end)
- Business bank statements (year-end period, ideally full year)
- Sales reports / invoice list / platform summaries
- Expenses with receipts + any missing receipts list
- Payroll reports + pension reports (if applicable)
- Dividend details + dates + amounts (if applicable)
- Director’s loan account notes (any personal/business payments)
- VAT returns + VAT scheme details (if VAT registered)
- Loan/finance statements (if you have borrowing)
- Asset purchases list (vehicles/equipment/etc.)
- Stock/WIP valuation (if relevant)
- HMRC letters/notices + UTR + company details
If you can send most of that within 4–6 weeks of year-end, your accounts process becomes smooth and predictable.
Want your year-end done properly, without the rush?
If you want year-end accounts handled cleanly — with clear deadlines, tidy bookkeeping, and no last-minute scrambling — we can help.
Start with Company Accounts to see what’s included, and then get in touch via Contact Us so we can tell you exactly what we need from you (based on your company, your software, and your current records).
You focus on running the business — we’ll keep the numbers compliant, accurate, and under control.
