What we monitor: Companies House annual accounts

How PenaltyProof monitors the annual accounts deadline and what alert stages fire.

What we track

PenaltyProof reads the Companies House public API daily for every company on your list and checks the next_accounts_due date. When a deadline enters the alert window, an email fires.

Alert stages (paid plans)

Advance alerts fire at 30, 14, and 7 days before the due date, and again on the day. An overdue alert fires when the deadline passes with no filing recorded. A late-filing escalation fires at 7 and 28 days overdue (paid plans, escalation_alerts_enabled flag).

Free plan

Free accounts receive overdue alerts only — no advance warnings. The overdue alert fires once when the deadline passes.

What we do not monitor

PenaltyProof does not monitor the content of the accounts, iXBRL tagging quality, or whether the accounts comply with UK GAAP or IFRS. We only detect whether CH records the filing as outstanding or submitted. We do not alert on the HMRC Corporation Tax filing separately from the Companies House accounts filing — those are tracked via the CT regime (see below).

Cross-link

The annual accounts deadline guide at /deadlines/annual-accounts-deadline has full penalty details. The methodology page at /methodology explains how we compute the deadline from the ARD.

Common questions

What is the threshold for annual accounts alerts?

Advance alerts fire at 30, 14, and 7 days before the due date, and again on the day (paid plans). Overdue alerts fire once the deadline passes. Late-filing escalation alerts fire at 7 and 28 days overdue when the escalation_alerts_enabled flag is on.

What do I need to configure to receive annual accounts alerts?

No configuration is needed. Annual accounts deadlines are read from the Companies House API automatically for every company on your list. Alerts fire without any per-company setup.

Does PenaltyProof detect when the accounts have actually been filed?

Yes, indirectly. PenaltyProof polls the Companies House API daily. When the API shows the filing as submitted, the alert sequence stops. There may be a lag of 24–48 hours between submission and the API updating.

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