Many strong businesses apply between their financial year-end and the Companies House filing deadline, meaning their most recent filed accounts may be 6–18 months old. This is entirely normal and will not automatically prevent an approval.
What we use when filed accounts are out of date
When your last filed accounts are more than approximately 12 months old, we will look at:
- Management accounts: A simple profit-and-loss and balance sheet for the current trading year, even in draft form, is usually sufficient.
- Bank transaction data: Via Open Banking or uploaded statements, we can see real trading activity in the current period, which often tells us more than accounts filed many months ago.
- VAT returns: Where available, VAT returns confirm turnover figures for recent quarters.
Companies in their first financial year
If you have not yet filed your first set of accounts, we can still assess you using bank data and any management accounts you have prepared. A short trading history will affect the amount we can offer initially, but it is not an automatic barrier to applying.
Timing your application
If your year-end accounts are due to be filed imminently and they show a strong trading year, it may be worth waiting a few weeks so we can see them. That said, if you need finance now, apply now — mid-year applications are assessed every day and the gap is manageable with good supporting data.
We lend only to UK limited companies and LLPs, and the loan is to the company with no director personal guarantee. As business finance outside the consumer-credit regime, it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or FSCS.
See also: What documents do I need to apply?, Applying with Open Banking — what to expect.