Going self-employed as a sole trader, or setting up your own limited company are the two most popular ways to start up a new business. However, there are significant differences between these two types of business structure which you can compare here.

After you have registered a new company in the UK, and your application has been processed and approved, Companies House will send you a formal certificate of incorporation.

Pre-emptive rights, also known as rights of pre-emption, means that the current shareholders in a company should always have first refusal on any new shares being issued, whether this arises through the transfer, allotment, or transmission of shares.

Although almost anyone can hold the position, certain individuals are disqualified from running a company. So what exactly are the rules governing the appointment of a company director?

There’s a lot to think about when you set up a limited company to fully comply with rules under the Companies Act 2006, one such obligation is how and where you should display your company name.

After sole trader status, the limited company is the most popular business structure in the UK. Here we look at how many there are on the official register, and how the number of incorporated businesses have grown massively over the past decade.

A statement of capital is an official form which gives details of a company’s issued shares and their status at a specific date. It’s part of the documentation that has to be completed during the company incorporation process.

Since new legislation was introduced in October 2009, Companies House requires directors of UK registered companies to provide two addresses: a service address, and their usual residential address.

All companies must keep up-to-date statutory registers and ensure they are available for inspection on request. Statutory registers include important information about the company such as the names of members and how many shares each one holds.

Many companies still have just the one class of shares – ordinary shares. However, there are many different classes of shares, and even ordinary shares can have different features.