Can I Do My Own Accounts for a Limited Company? 2026 UK Guide

Yes. You can prepare and file your own limited company accounts in the UK.

There is no general rule requiring the director of a private limited company to appoint an accountant simply because the business is incorporated.

However, doing your own limited company accounts involves much more than entering income and expenses into bookkeeping software.

As a company director, you are responsible for keeping appropriate accounting records, preparing annual accounts, dealing with the Company’s Tax Return, filing required information and making sure Corporation Tax is paid when due. Using an accountant can help you manage those responsibilities, but the directors remain legally responsible for the company’s records and filings.

There is also an important 2026 change for anybody planning to self-file.

HMRC’s previous online service for filing company accounts and the Company Tax Return closed on 31 March 2026. From 1 April 2026, companies generally need suitable commercial software to file their Company Tax Return with HMRC.

So the question is not only:

“Can I do my own accounts for a limited company?”

A better question is:

“Do I understand the bookkeeping, statutory accounts, Corporation Tax, software and filing requirements well enough to do it accurately?”

This guide explains what preparing your own limited company accounts involves, the records and software you need, the deadlines to watch, the mistakes directors commonly make and where professional support may become useful.

If you decide you would prefer professional support with the year-end work, Samsaad’s limited company accountants support owner-managed and growing companies with annual accounts, Corporation Tax and wider company accounting requirements.

Can I Legally Do My Own Limited Company Accounts?

Yes.

A director can maintain the company’s bookkeeping, prepare its annual accounts and deal with the relevant filings without employing an external accountant.

What matters is whether the company meets its legal accounting and tax responsibilities.

This means maintaining sufficient financial records and submitting the required information accurately and on time.

For a straightforward company with relatively few transactions, the process may be manageable.

For a company with VAT, payroll, several shareholders, significant assets, director loans or more complicated transactions, substantially more accounting judgement may be required.

The important distinction is therefore between:

being legally allowed to prepare the accounts

and

being sufficiently confident that they have been prepared correctly.

What Does Doing Your Own Limited Company Accounts Actually Involve?

“Doing your own accounts” can sound like one task completed at the end of the year.

In practice, it is several connected tasks.

These tasks depend on each other.

If the underlying bookkeeping is incomplete, the annual accounts can be wrong.

If the annual accounts are wrong, the Corporation Tax calculation can also be affected.

This is why preparing your own limited company accounts starts with accurate records throughout the year rather than opening the filing software shortly before the deadline.

Businesses that prefer to outsource the record-keeping stage can use Samsaad’s bookkeeping services for businesses, which are designed to keep financial records organised and ready for VAT, annual accounts and tax reporting. Samsaad’s live bookkeeping service specifically supports limited companies and connects bookkeeping with year-end accounts and Corporation Tax.

Bookkeeping Is Not the Same as Preparing Statutory Accounts

This distinction is important.

Bookkeeping records the financial transactions that occurred during the year.

That includes things such as:

• sales invoices
• money received from customers
• supplier bills
• business expenses
• bank transactions
• credit card transactions
• assets purchased
• money owed to the company
• money owed by the company

Statutory accounts use that underlying information to prepare the company’s formal financial statements.

Good bookkeeping software can make the first part much easier.

It does not automatically mean the final figures meet all statutory accounting requirements.

Year-end accounts may require additional adjustments relating to:

• unpaid income
• unpaid expenses
• prepayments
• accruals
• fixed assets
• depreciation
• loans
• director transactions
• Corporation Tax
• payroll liabilities
• VAT balances

You therefore need to understand more than which bookkeeping category a transaction belongs in.

What Accounting Records Does a Limited Company Need to Keep?

A limited company should keep enough information to explain its transactions and financial position.

Typical records include:

• invoices issued to customers
• supplier invoices
• receipts
• business bank statements
• business credit card statements
• contracts
• loan documents
• payroll information
• VAT records
• asset purchase invoices
• details of money introduced by directors
• details of money withdrawn by directors
• amounts owed by customers
• amounts owed to suppliers

Company and personal finances should also be kept clearly distinguishable.

This is particularly important because a limited company is legally separate from its shareholders and directors.

If personal expenditure passes through the company bank account, it should not simply be recorded as an ordinary company expense.

The correct treatment depends on what the payment represents.

How Long Should Company Accounting Records Be Kept?

HMRC generally requires company accounting and supporting records to be kept for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to.

Records may need to be kept longer in certain situations.

That is another reason digital record keeping can help.

Invoices, receipts, bank statements and supporting documents should be stored in a way that allows the figures in the accounts or Company Tax Return to be supported if HMRC later asks for evidence.

Annual Accounts and a Company Tax Return Are Different

Your annual accounts and Company Tax Return are connected, but they are not the same thing.

Annual statutory accounts

Your annual accounts report the company’s financial performance and financial position.

They normally include items such as:

• a balance sheet
• a profit and loss account
• relevant notes
• a director’s report where required
• an auditor’s report where an audit is required

GOV.UK confirms that statutory accounts must include a balance sheet, profit and loss account, appropriate notes and, unless an exemption applies, a director’s report. GOV.UK

Company Tax Return

The Company Tax Return is submitted to HMRC.

It generally involves form CT600, the company’s Corporation Tax computation and supporting accounts information.

A common DIY mistake is assuming:

accounting profit = taxable profit

That is not always correct.

Tax calculations may require adjustments to the accounting figures.

For example, accounting depreciation is not normally simply deducted in the Corporation Tax calculation in the same way it appears in the financial statements. Capital allowances may instead need to be considered.

Some expenditure recorded in the accounts may also be disallowed for Corporation Tax purposes.

This is one of the main areas where preparing company accounts moves beyond basic bookkeeping.

Which Accounting Standard Applies to a Small Limited Company?

Limited company statutory accounts need to be prepared using an appropriate accounting framework.

For many UK companies this will involve UK GAAP, including FRS 102.

Qualifying micro-entities may be able to prepare accounts using FRS 105, which is the financial reporting standard designed for the micro-entities regime.

This matters because accounting software cannot simply decide that the shortest or simplest accounts format is automatically appropriate for your company.

You need to establish which regime the company qualifies for.

Are Micro-Entity Accounts Easier to Prepare Yourself?

Potentially.

A qualifying micro-entity can use reduced financial reporting requirements.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a company normally needs to satisfy at least 2 out of the following 3 size conditions to fall within the micro-entity thresholds:

Additional eligibility conditions apply, so satisfying the numerical limits alone does not necessarily mean every company can use the regime. Companies House confirms the current thresholds and notes that micro-entities still need to maintain appropriate accounts and file with Companies House. GOV.UK

A straightforward micro-entity can therefore be a stronger candidate for DIY accounts.

But “simpler” does not mean:

enter turnover + expenses + press submit.

The underlying bookkeeping still needs to be complete and the accounting treatment still needs to be appropriate.

What Counts as a Small Company?

For accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, the general small-company size thresholds are:

A company normally needs to meet at least 2 of the 3 tests, subject to the wider eligibility rules.

Company size can affect:

• reporting requirements
• disclosures
• potential audit exemption
• the accounting regime available
• filing requirements

Do not select a company category inside accounting software purely because it gives the shortest set of accounts.

What Software Do I Need to File My Own Limited Company Accounts?

This changed significantly in 2026.

You should now think about two different types of software.

Bookkeeping software

Platforms such as Xero and QuickBooks can help with:

• bank feeds
• invoice recording
• expense capture
• reconciliation
• bookkeeping
• financial reports
• VAT records

These systems can make keeping accurate company records considerably easier.

However, bookkeeping software does not necessarily mean you automatically have everything required to file a Company Tax Return.

Accounts and Corporation Tax software

HMRC’s previous online accounts and Company Tax Return service closed on 31 March 2026.

From 1 April 2026, companies generally need commercial software capable of producing and filing the relevant parts of the Company Tax Return.

HMRC advises checking that the software can deal with the elements you need, including:

• CT600
• Corporation Tax computation
• company accounts

Therefore, before subscribing to software specifically for DIY filing, check exactly what it can prepare and submit.

Can I Still File My Accounts Directly With Companies House?

Yes, in 2026 eligible companies can still use the Companies House online annual accounts service.

Your accounts need to be approved by the directors before filing, and the service requires the relevant Companies House credentials.

However, another major change is coming.

From 1 April 2028, all companies will need to file annual accounts with Companies House using commercial software.

Companies House has confirmed that its web and paper accounts-filing routes will close for accounts filings at that point.

For directors planning to continue preparing their own accounts for several years, becoming comfortable with suitable software now may make that transition easier.

What Are the Main Limited Company Accounts Deadlines?

Limited company accounting deadlines are not all the same.

For a normal private company, the general position is:

One of the most common points of confusion is Corporation Tax.

The tax payment is normally due before the CT600 filing deadline.

Waiting until the Company Tax Return deadline to calculate the Corporation Tax can therefore mean the payment is already late.

Always check the company’s actual deadlines rather than relying on a general timetable.

Is the Confirmation Statement Part of the Annual Accounts?

No.

A confirmation statement is a separate Companies House filing.

It is used to confirm or update important company information held on the register.

Filing annual accounts does not automatically deal with the confirmation statement.

Likewise, filing the confirmation statement does not replace the annual accounts.

Directors doing their own company compliance need to track each obligation separately.

Step-by-Step: How to Do Your Own Limited Company Accounts

For a genuinely straightforward company, the process may look like this.

Step 1: Complete the Bookkeeping

Make sure all financial transactions for the year have been entered.

Review:

• sales
• purchases
• expenses
• business bank transactions
• business credit cards
• payment platforms
• assets
• loans
• payroll
• VAT
• director transactions

Do not leave unexplained transactions sitting in suspense accounts simply because the year end has arrived.

Step 2: Reconcile the Bank Accounts

Compare the balances in your accounting records against the actual bank statements.

Differences can indicate:

• missing transactions
• duplicated entries
• incorrect dates
• unrecorded bank fees
• incorrectly matched transfers

Reconciliation should ideally happen throughout the year rather than only at year end.

Samsaad’s business bookkeeping service includes transaction recording and bank reconciliation where this is something you would rather outsource. Samsaad Accounting

Step 3: Review Debtors and Creditors

Check amounts owed to your company and amounts your company owes to other businesses.

Ask:

• Are the customer invoices still genuinely outstanding?
• Have any invoices been paid but not matched?
• Are supplier bills missing?
• Are there old balances that need investigating?
• Are any amounts disputed?

Step 4: Review Year-End Adjustments

Consider whether there are transactions relating to the year that have not yet been reflected correctly.

Potential areas include:

• accrued expenses
• prepayments
• income received in advance
• unpaid income
• depreciation
• fixed assets
• payroll liabilities
• Corporation Tax
• loans

This is one of the stages where accounting judgement becomes more important.

Step 5: Review Director Transactions

Check all money moving between the company and its directors.

Make sure you can identify whether payments represent:

• salary
• dividends
• reimbursement of business expenses
• repayment of money owed to the director
• money borrowed by the director
• money introduced into the company

Do not simply label every director withdrawal “drawings”.

“Drawings” is a sole-trader concept and does not adequately explain transactions between a limited company and its director.

Step 6: Confirm the Reporting Regime

Determine whether the company qualifies as:

• micro-entity
• small company
• another reporting category

Then establish the accounting framework required.

Step 7: Prepare the Statutory Accounts

Prepare the required financial statements and notes.

The accounts need to be approved by the company’s directors before they are filed with Companies House. GOV.UK

Step 8: Calculate the Corporation Tax Position

Use the accounts as the starting point, then make the required tax adjustments.

Do not assume the accounting profit shown in your software is automatically the taxable profit.

Step 9: Prepare the Company Tax Return

Prepare the CT600, tax computation and required supporting information.

Since 1 April 2026, suitable commercial software will generally be required.

Step 10: File the Accounts With Companies House

Submit the approved statutory accounts using an available filing method.

Remember that software filing becomes mandatory for company accounts from 1 April 2028.

Step 11: File the Company Tax Return With HMRC

Submit the required Corporation Tax information using suitable software.

Step 12: Pay Corporation Tax

Make sure payment reaches HMRC by the relevant payment deadline.

That date usually comes before the CT600 filing deadline.

Common Mistakes When Directors Prepare Their Own Accounts

The risk in DIY accounting is often not arithmetic.

It is recognising when an accounting or tax judgement needs to be made.

Common mistakes include:

The original Samsaad brief correctly identified director loans, dividends, expenses and Corporation Tax deadlines as key areas where DIY directors can get into difficulty. Can I Do My Own Accounts for a …

Director’s Loan Accounts Need Particular Attention

A limited company and its directors are separate.

Money passing between them therefore needs to be properly identified.

A director’s loan account can become relevant where a director:

• borrows money from the company
• pays personal expenses through the company
• lends money to the company
• pays company expenses personally
• receives repayment of money previously introduced

An overdrawn director’s loan can create additional tax consequences.

It should not simply be treated as an ordinary expense because money has left the company bank account.

If your company has regular director withdrawals or complex director balances, this is one area where professional review can become particularly valuable.

Dividends Need More Than Cash in the Bank

A company having enough cash to make a payment does not automatically mean it has enough distributable profit to declare the same amount as a dividend.

Dividends need to be properly supported.

Directors should understand the difference between:

• company cash
• accounting profit
• distributable reserves

These are not interchangeable.

A payment to a director might instead be:

• salary
• expense reimbursement
• repayment of a director loan
• a new director loan
• dividend

Each can have a different accounting and tax treatment.

If your questions go beyond preparing the annual accounts and into remuneration, dividends or wider company tax planning, Samsaad’s tax planning services are the more appropriate internal destination rather than trying to turn this DIY filing article into a tax-planning guide. Samsaad has a dedicated tax-planning page for that separate commercial intent. Samsaad Accounting

Company directors who also need help with the personal tax consequences of salary, dividends or other income can separately review Samsaad’s personal tax and Self Assessment support. Samsaad Accounting

What if My Limited Company Is VAT Registered?

VAT is separate from the annual statutory accounts, but the VAT records feed into the bookkeeping used to prepare those accounts.

A VAT-registered company should ensure that:

• sales VAT is correctly recorded
• purchase VAT is correctly recorded
• VAT returns reconcile with the accounting system
• VAT liabilities or repayments are reflected correctly
• digital records meet applicable requirements
• outstanding VAT balances are understood at year end

If your bookkeeping contains VAT errors, the year-end figures can also become unreliable.

For VAT-specific support, Samsaad has a dedicated VAT accountants and VAT returns service covering VAT records, registration, returns, reconciliations and Making Tax Digital.

Keeping VAT discussion on that page rather than expanding it excessively here also helps prevent this article from competing with Samsaad’s VAT service page.

What if My Limited Company Has Employees?

Running payroll creates a separate set of responsibilities.

Depending on the company, this can involve:

• PAYE
• employee wages
• director salary
• National Insurance
• RTI submissions
• payslips
• workplace pensions
• starters and leavers
• payroll year-end records

Payroll figures should also reconcile with the employment costs and PAYE balances shown in the company accounts.

If you pay yourself or employees through PAYE and do not want to manage the payroll process yourself, Samsaad’s payroll services cover employee pay calculations, PAYE, RTI submissions and workplace pension administration.

What Happens if I File Company Accounts Late?

Companies House late-filing penalties are automatic.

For a private limited company, the current penalties are:

If accounts are filed late in 2 successive financial years, the penalty is normally doubled.

Do not assume that blaming your accountant would automatically remove a penalty. Companies House specifically lists another person or accountant being responsible as something that will not normally make an appeal successful.

That reinforces an important point:

the filing responsibility ultimately sits with the company and its directors.

What Happens if the Company Tax Return Is Late?

HMRC’s flat-rate Company Tax Return penalties increased for filing dates on or after 1 April 2026.

The current basic structure is:

Higher flat-rate penalties can apply where returns are repeatedly late. The 2026 increase was legislated in Finance Act 2026.

Companies House penalties and HMRC penalties are separate.

One poorly managed year end can therefore create several different compliance problems.

Can a Dormant Company Prepare Its Own Accounts?

Often, yes.

A dormant company normally has much simpler financial activity than a trading company, which can make DIY filing more realistic.

However, dormant companies still generally have Companies House filing obligations.

Companies House confirms that companies must file accounts annually whether they are trading or non-trading.

A dormant company may also need to deal with:

• confirmation statements
• director information
• registered-office details
• Companies House identity-verification requirements
• any HMRC correspondence relevant to its Corporation Tax status

“Dormant” does not mean “nothing ever needs filing”.

Which Companies Are Best Suited to DIY Accounts?

Doing your own limited company accounts tends to be more realistic where the company is simple.

Your turnover alone does not determine whether self-filing is sensible.

Complexity matters more.

A business with £500,000 turnover and 20 simple monthly invoices may have much cleaner accounts than a business with £100,000 turnover generated through thousands of online transactions, refunds, payment processors and overseas purchases.

Can I Do My Own Bookkeeping and Use an Accountant at Year End?

Yes.

This is often a practical middle ground.

The director can handle:

• invoices
• expenses
• bank feeds
• bank reconciliation
• document capture
• day-to-day bookkeeping

An accountant can then deal with:

• year-end adjustments
• statutory accounts
• Corporation Tax calculation
• CT600
• final accounts filing

This approach allows you to keep control over routine records without necessarily taking responsibility for every technical year-end judgement.

If you want to maintain the bookkeeping yourself but obtain professional help with annual accounts, Samsaad’s limited company accounting service is the relevant service page.

Can an Accountant Review Accounts I Prepared Myself?

Potentially, yes.

You may prepare the bookkeeping and preliminary figures yourself and then ask an accountant to review the records before filing.

However, a meaningful review may require more than checking the totals on the final balance sheet.

The accountant may need access to:

• bookkeeping records
• bank reconciliations
• invoices
• asset information
• loan statements
• payroll
• VAT
• director transactions
• previous accounts

If there are major bookkeeping problems, they may need to be corrected before the accounts can be reviewed properly.

It is usually easier to ask for help before a deadline becomes urgent.

What if I Want Better Financial Information During the Year?

Statutory accounts are primarily a year-end reporting and compliance exercise.

They are not designed to give you all the information you may want for running the business month by month.

A growing company may also want to monitor:

• monthly revenue
• gross profit
• operating profit
• costs
• cash flow
• debtors
• creditors
• budget performance
• margins
• financial trends

That is a different search intent from “can I do my own annual accounts”.

For regular financial reporting, the relevant Samsaad service is management accounts, which is designed to help businesses monitor performance and cash flow during the year.

Keeping that distinction clear helps both the reader and Google understand the purpose of each Samsaad page.

Can I Switch From DIY Accounts to an Accountant Later?

Yes.

Preparing the accounts yourself this year does not mean you need to continue doing everything yourself indefinitely.

An accountant can normally take over later.

A handover is easier where:

• bookkeeping is current
• bank balances are reconciled
• invoices are available
• previous accounts are available
• previous Company Tax Returns are available
• payroll information is complete
• VAT records are organised
• director transactions are clearly identified

If records are incomplete, additional work may be required to establish reliable opening balances or correct previous bookkeeping.

When Does Professional Help Become More Useful?

This article deliberately does not attempt to answer the broader keyword “Do I need an accountant for my limited company?”

That is a separate search intent.

From a practical filing perspective, though, additional support may become useful where:

• you are unsure which accounting framework applies
• your bookkeeping does not reconcile
• the company has an overdrawn director’s loan
• you are unsure whether dividends were valid
• there are multiple shareholders
• the company is VAT registered
• payroll is involved
• the business has substantial assets
• finance or hire purchase is involved
• there are overseas transactions
• previous filings may contain errors
• the company is growing quickly
• you are preparing for finance or investment

The question is therefore less about whether a company has reached a particular turnover and more about how much accounting judgement its transactions require.

Related Reading for Dental Limited Companies

The main article intentionally stays generic so it can rank for DIY limited company accounts without becoming a dental-accounting article.

However, Samsaad also has specialist content for readers operating through dental businesses.

If your limited company operates a dental practice, see Dental Practice Accounts: End-of-Year Checklist. It covers the additional year-end records dental businesses may need, including NHS income, private income, equipment, payroll, associate payments, finance and director transactions.

Dental businesses with mixed revenue streams may also find NHS vs Private Income: How Dental Practices Should Structure Their Accounts useful for understanding how different income streams can be separated within the bookkeeping.

Keeping those links within a clearly labelled sector-specific section avoids making the main article look as though it is targeting dental-accounting keywords.

So, Can You Do Your Own Accounts for a Limited Company?

Yes.

For a straightforward UK limited company, preparing and filing your own accounts can be possible.

But you need to be comfortable with more than entering transactions into accounting software.

Depending on the company, you may need to understand:

• statutory accounts
• bookkeeping
• year-end adjustments
• the correct reporting framework
• micro-entity or small-company rules
• Corporation Tax adjustments
• CT600 filing
• commercial tax software
• Companies House filing
• director transactions
• dividends
• VAT
• payroll
• filing deadlines

The closure of HMRC’s old online filing service in 2026 means DIY Corporation Tax filing also now generally requires suitable commercial software.

A simple company with clean bookkeeping and few transactions may still be relatively manageable.

As the company becomes more complex, the risk of overlooking an accounting or tax issue increases.

Whether you prepare the accounts yourself or use professional support, the foundation is the same:

complete records, reconciled figures, correct accounting treatment and filings submitted on time.