Check the registered name, company number and status. Active, Dormant, Liquidation and Dissolved each change the decision. Similar names are common, so match on the 8-character company number, not the name alone. A dissolved company cannot contract with you.
Do not read one year in isolation. Five years of filings shows the trend: profit direction, net assets, gearing and cash. A company that looks fine this year but has deteriorated for three years is a worse risk than a stable one. Filleted and micro-entity accounts omit the profit figures, so note what the filing actually contains.
County Court Judgments show whether other creditors had to force payment. Look at count, amounts, dates, and whether they are satisfied. One old satisfied CCJ may be explainable; several unsatisfied ones are a pattern. See what a CCJ is.
Winding-up petitions, administration notices and dissolution events are published in The Gazette. An active winding-up petition means a creditor has asked the court to liquidate the company, and it outranks anything the accounts show.
Charges are security granted over the company's assets, usually to a lender. Heavy outstanding charges mean the assets you might rely on are already spoken for. A lender with a charge is paid before trade creditors in an insolvency.
Check the directors' appointment histories. Serial appointments to dissolved or liquidated companies may indicate phoenix activity. Recent resignations close to the trouble are worth reading too.
Late accounts and overdue confirmation statements are among the earliest distress signals, and they are visible the moment a deadline passes. A company that files late, every year, manages its obligations badly. That habit does not stop at Companies House.
Seven checks, five minutes, all from public records. The profile also gives you a suggested credit exposure and a sector percentile so you can set terms against the evidence. For the full decision workflow, see the credit decision protocol.
Run all seven checks on any England & Wales company in one search. Free, with no card and no footprint on the company's record.