- UK law doesn’t require a limited company to appoint an accountant, but the director stays personally liable for every filing either way.
- A simple single-director company with no payroll and no VAT can reasonably file its own accounts, while most trading companies find DIY becomes a false economy fast.
- Certain triggers, like VAT registration, a first employee, or a director’s loan, reliably mark the point where doing your own accounts costs more than it saves.
The short answer is no, you don’t need an accountant for a limited company. UK law sets no requirement to appoint one, and most small companies are exempt from audit too. You’re free to keep your own books, file your annual accounts with Companies House, and send your Company Tax Return to HMRC yourself.
The catch is the part nobody advertises. As a director, you’re legally responsible for those filings whether you touch them or not, so getting help is about managing risk and time, not ticking a legal box.
For most trading companies, that’s exactly where an in-house limited company accountant earns their fee.
Do you legally need an accountant for a limited company?
You do not legally need an accountant for a limited company in the UK. No statute requires a private limited company to appoint one, and Companies House and HMRC both accept filings made directly by directors.
What the law does require is that the filings get done, on time and correctly. GOV.UK puts it plainly: you can hire someone to handle the day-to-day, but you’re still legally responsible for your company’s records, accounts and performance. Miss the mark and you can be fined, prosecuted, or disqualified as a director.
So the real question isn’t “am I allowed to do this myself?” You are. It’s “can I do it accurately, on time, every time, without it eating my week?”
What your limited company must file, and when
Before you decide who does the work, you need to know what the work actually is. Here’s the full set of obligations for a typical small private limited company.
Filing | Goes to | Deadline |
Annual accounts | Companies House | 9 months after your financial year end |
Confirmation statement | Companies House | At least once every 12 months |
Company Tax Return (CT600) | HMRC | 12 months after your accounting period ends |
Corporation tax payment | HMRC | 9 months and 1 day after your period ends |
Director’s Self Assessment | HMRC | 31 January (where applicable) |
PAYE reports | HMRC | Each time you run payroll |
VAT returns | HMRC | Usually quarterly, if registered |
A few of these catch people out. The corporation tax payment is due before the CT600 filing, which feels backwards but isn’t a typo. You can read the mechanics in our guide to paying corporation tax.
The confirmation statement is a separate £50 digital filing that simply confirms your company details are current. Miss it and you can be fined up to £5,000, with strike-off on the table.
PAYE only kicks in once you pay anyone, including yourself through a salary. That’s where payroll for limited companies becomes its own recurring job.
What the law says vs what actually goes wrong
Each obligation has a clean legal version and a messier reality. The accounts must be filed, true, but they also have to be prepared to FRS 105 or FRS 102 standards, and getting the format wrong gets them rejected. The tax return must be submitted, true, but the figures have to reconcile with the accounts, and HMRC notices when they don’t.
The pattern repeats across every filing. The rule is simple; the execution is where DIY founders lose hours or make costly slips.
Does your limited company need an audit?
Most small companies don’t need an audit. For accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, your company is generally exempt if it meets at least two of these three tests:
- Turnover of no more than £15 million
- Balance sheet total of no more than £7.5 million
- No more than 50 employees on average
If you’re a typical small business owner, you’re comfortably inside all three, so a statutory audit almost certainly doesn’t apply to you.
Watch the two-year rule. You normally need to meet the small-company conditions in both the current and previous year to keep the exemption. Group companies, subsidiaries and regulated sectors follow different rules, so check your position if any of those apply.
Who’s responsible if the accounts are wrong? You are
The director carries the legal responsibility for a company’s filings, and that never transfers to an accountant. GOV.UK states it directly: hiring someone to manage the numbers doesn’t move the liability off you.
This is the single most important line in this whole decision. If your accountant makes an error, HMRC and Companies House still come to you first. A good accountant reduces the chance of that error and often carries professional indemnity insurance, but the statutory duty stays with the director’s name on the register.
That’s not a reason to avoid DIY. It’s a reason to be honest with yourself about whether you can shoulder that responsibility confidently, or whether you’d sleep better with a qualified pair of eyes on it.
Doing your own limited company accounts: what that involves
Filing your own company accounts is a real, legitimate route, and HMRC and Companies House build free tools specifically for it. Here’s what the DIY path actually looks like in practice.
- Keep clean records all year: every invoice, receipt, and bank transaction, stored for at least six years.
- Use bookkeeping software like Xero or QuickBooks, or HMRC-recognised tools, to keep the numbers straight.
- Prepare your annual accounts in the correct statutory format.
- File those accounts with Companies House, often through the joint filing service.
- Prepare and submit your CT600 to HMRC, making sure it reconciles with the accounts.
- Pay any corporation tax due by the deadline.
- File your confirmation statement and keep your register for corporation tax details current.
Realistically, a straightforward company spends a few hours a month on bookkeeping plus a heavier stretch at year end. Software handles the arithmetic; it doesn’t tell you whether you’ve claimed the right expenses or structured your pay tax-efficiently.
Which companies can realistically do it themselves?
Some companies genuinely don’t need to pay for help yet, and we’d rather tell you that than sell you something you can’t use. DIY tends to work when your setup is simple and predictable.
- Dormant companies, which still must file but have minimal activity
- Single-director companies with no employees
- Companies not registered for VAT
- Businesses with a small, steady number of transactions and no complex income
If that’s you, the free HMRC and Companies House services plus decent software can carry you a long way. Come back when your situation changes, not before.
Seven signs it’s time to stop doing your own accounts
DIY stops paying off at fairly predictable moments. Hit three or more of these and the maths usually tips toward getting help.
- You register for VAT. Quarterly returns and scheme choices add real complexity, as our guide to registering for VAT shows.
- You take on your first employee. Payroll, pensions and RTI reporting become a monthly obligation.
- You mix salary and dividends. Getting the split right is where most tax efficiency lives, and most DIY mistakes.
- You take a director’s loan. Overdraw your loan account and you can trigger the tax charge on an overdrawn director’s loan.
- You’re claiming R&D relief or SEIS/EIS. These reliefs are valuable but unforgiving if filed wrong.
- You spot a mistake in a prior year. Correcting historic filings is fiddly and time-sensitive.
- You’ve become the bottleneck. When admin is stealing time you should spend on the business, DIY has quietly become expensive.
What does an accountant do that software doesn’t?
Software records what already happened. An accountant tells you what to do next, and that’s the difference worth paying for. A qualified accountant reviews your position, flags reliefs and allowable expenses you’d miss, and structures your pay to keep your tax bill legitimately low.
They also catch the expensive errors before they land. The penalties for getting it wrong stack up fast, and they come from two regulators at once, as our breakdown of HMRC and Companies House penalties sets out.
To put numbers on it: Companies House late accounts penalties run from £150 to £1,500 for a private company, and double if you’re late two years running. HMRC’s fixed CT600 penalty doubled to £200 on 1 April 2026, with percentage penalties on unpaid tax after that. A single missed year end can trigger fines from both bodies simultaneously.
What does an accountant cost for a limited company?
Fees for a small limited company typically land in the region of £60 to £120 a month, depending on turnover, VAT, and payroll. That’s the range you’ll see across the market for a micro-entity or small contractor company.
We won’t restate a full cost breakdown here. If you want the wider picture, including software, filing fees and the hidden costs of getting it wrong, our guide to the real cost of running a limited company covers it properly. The headline: for most trading companies, the fee is less than the value of the time saved and the mistakes avoided.
How Sleek helps with limited company accounting
If you’ve read this far and landed on “I think I need help,” here’s what working with us looks like. Sleek’s accountants are qualified and in-house, so the person who files your accounts is the person you can actually ask about them. Competitors often outsource that work; we don’t.
The technology handles the repetitive part, and a named human handles the judgement calls. You get your filings done on time and your questions answered by someone who knows your company, without the fine print or the surprise bills. Explore our accounting plans to see what’s included.
Disclaimer: The preceding information is not legal advice. This content is aimed to provide general guidance. For more formal or legal advice, contact Sleek directly.
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FAQs on needing an accountant for a limited company
Do I legally need an accountant for a limited company?
No. UK law sets no requirement for a private limited company to appoint an accountant, and you can file your accounts and tax returns yourself. The one thing that never changes is that the director stays legally responsible for those filings, whether or not an accountant prepares them.
Can I file my own company accounts with Companies House?
Yes. Companies House accepts accounts filed directly by directors, often through its free online service or the joint filing service with HMRC. The accounts must be in the correct statutory format, though, and errors get them rejected. Many directors DIY their first simple year and bring in help once trading picks up.
Does a dormant company need an accountant?
No. A dormant company has minimal activity and simpler accounts, so most owners file these themselves without trouble. You still have to file, however. Dormant doesn’t mean exempt, and a missed dormant filing draws the same penalties as any other. If you’re unsure whether your company counts as dormant, check before the deadline.
What happens if I get my company accounts wrong?
You face penalties, and they come from both regulators independently. Companies House late accounts penalties run from £150 to £1,500 and double for a second consecutive late year. HMRC adds its own fixed and percentage-based penalties on top. Because the director is liable, those fines and any interest land on you, not on any software you used.
Do I need an accountant if I already use accounting software?
No, software alone can satisfy the mechanics. But software records transactions; it doesn’t advise. It won’t tell you the tax-efficient salary and dividend split, spot a relief you qualify for, or catch a reconciliation error before HMRC does. Software plus an accountant covers both the recording and the judgement; software alone covers only the first.
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Does my limited company need an audit?
Almost certainly not, if you’re small. For periods starting on or after 6 April 2025, you’re exempt if you meet two of three tests: turnover under £15 million, balance sheet under £7.5 million, and 50 or fewer employees. Group companies, subsidiaries and regulated sectors follow different rules, so check those cases separately.
Can I switch to an accountant part-way through the year?
Yes. You can appoint an accountant at any point, and most handle the mid-year handover routinely. You’ll authorise them to act for you with HMRC, usually via a form 64-8 authorisation. There’s no need to wait for your year end or a new accounting period to make the change.
