Reading a check

A check page always has the same parts in the same order. This page walks through them from top to bottom, then explains how to record a decision and what goes into the printable report. Most sections on the check page also open with one line saying what they show.

Words in [brackets] stand for the details of the check you are looking at.

The header band

The band at the top identifies the company and sums up the result.

• Back to the results takes you back to your search, which runs again.
• The title is the company name. If Companies House returned no company, it reads No company found. If Companies House did not answer, it reads Register unavailable.
• Under the title are the country, the register and the company number, for example United Kingdom · Companies House · 00445790.

Two buttons sit on the right:

• Run again queries Companies House and GLEIF again without using saved answers (its tooltip reads "Query every source again, without cache"). It screens the names again against the sanctions lists the panel holds at that moment; the lists themselves are refreshed daily, not by this button. It creates a new check with a new reference and opens it. The earlier check stays in the history, and so do the decisions recorded on it: they do not carry over to the new check.
• Printable report opens the report in a new tab. See The printable report.

Below them is a row of labels:

Recommendation and reasons

This panel opens with the recommendation and one sentence explaining it. For a review, for example, it reads: "Nothing rules the company out, but something below is marked warning or could not be confirmed. Read those lines before you decide."

Below it is one line per reason, the most serious first: fail, then warning, then info, then pass. The legend at the bottom of the panel reads:

Pass: checked and fine. Info: context worth knowing; if it stops automatic approval, the line says so. Warning: a person should look at it. Fail: rules the company out.

Two info lines stop automatic approval without saying so: The register lists no current officers. and The query for officers failed: they are not known in this check. This is not evidence that there are none; run the check again. In both cases the check lacks the officers pass line that approve needs.

What each reason means, and what to do about it, is in Results and reasons.

Your decision

Next to the reasons is Your decision, where you record what you decide. Its header shows the latest decision, or No decision recorded yet. Under the form are the decisions already recorded, newest first. How it works is explained in Recording a decision.

Identity and registered office

What Companies House holds about the company. Some rows appear only when the register has something for them; the others show not stated when it gives nothing.

The footer, About this source., reads: "Identity verification of directors and PSCs is shown as Companies House publishes it. HMRC has no public API for the AWRS register: the alcohol wholesaler check is a link to the official search by URN."

If Companies House did not answer, the section reads "The register did not answer: nothing is known about this company yet. Run the check again." If it returned no company, it reads "The register returned no company for this number. See the reasons and the sources."

Officers

The people and companies Companies House lists as officers: directors, secretaries, LLP members and others. The header shows [n] current, [n] in total.

• If the company has former officers, Current and All switch between current officers only (the default) and everyone.
• The columns are Name, Role, Appointed, Resigned, Nationality, Residence, Born and Identity verification. The last four appear only when at least one officer has data for them.
• A company acting as an officer shows legal person under its name.
• Role is the panel's short label, such as Director, Secretary, Member or Other. When Companies House's own role wording says more, for example corporate-director or llp-designated-member, it appears underneath.
• Born shows only the month and year. That is all the panel keeps.

The section can also carry one of these messages:

• "Companies House did not answer the query for officers, so none are shown. This is not evidence that there are none: run the check again."
• "The register lists more officers than one check can read: [n] of [n] are shown and were screened. The check cannot be approved automatically."
• "The register lists no current officers."

Identity verification

The Identity verification column, in Officers and in Beneficial owners, shows what Companies House publishes about each person's identity verification:

When Companies House names the authorised service provider that carried out the verification, by [provider] appears underneath. The cell is empty when Companies House publishes nothing about that person's identity verification.

Beneficial owners

The persons with significant control (PSCs) that Companies House publishes. A line at the top says what the register states:

Then comes the table, with [n] current, [n] in total in the header. The columns are Name, Type, Nature of control, Notified and Ceased, plus Nationality, Born (month and year only) and Identity verification when there is data for them. Identity verification uses the same labels as for officers.

• Type is person, legal person or protected person. A protected person is a PSC that Companies House lists as super-secure and whose details it does not publish. Protected persons count as declared owners, but they are not screened against the sanctions lists. Their Name cell shows what Companies House gives in place of a name, which may be a description of the entry rather than a name.
• Nature of control is Companies House's own code turned into words, so it stays in English.
• Ceased owners are listed with their Ceased date. They are not screened.

Group structure (GLEIF)

GLEIF is the global register of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI) and of which company owns which. Most small and medium companies have no LEI, and that is normal.

If no LEI is linked, the section shows one line: "No LEI found for this entity. Most small and medium companies do not have one.", "Several GLEIF entities share this name, so none was linked rather than risk the wrong one." or "GLEIF did not answer."

If an LEI is linked:

A lapsed LEI adds a box: "The LEI has lapsed: its data has not been revalidated and may be out of date." GLEIF's status codes appear in English, as GLEIF gives them.

There is no VAT panel on a UK check. VIES, the EU's VAT checker, covers EU member states only, and the panel does not check UK VAT numbers.

Sanctions screening

The header says how many names were screened, for example "[n] names screened: the company, [n] current officers and [n] current beneficial owners". The panel screens:

• the company's own name;
• every current officer of any role, secretaries included (a company acting as an officer is screened as a company);
• every current beneficial owner, except protected persons.

Former officers and ceased owners are not screened.

The first table lists the four sanctions lists, each with its List version: the date the list's publisher gives to the version the panel holds.

• UK Sanctions List (FCDO)
• EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions List
• UN Security Council Consolidated List
• OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List

If nothing matched, you see No match on any list. If something did, a second table shows each hit:

Similarity is not proof that two names belong to the same person or company. When a person is among the hits, the panel adds: "A match on a person is never strong: without a date of birth a name cannot be confirmed."

If the screening could not run, the section reads "Not run: [reason]. Approval is not possible until every list is screened."

How names are compared is explained on the sources page.

Filings and publications

The company's most recent filings at Companies House, up to 50. The 10 newest are shown, and Show the other [n] reveals the rest. The columns are Date, Type, Description and Document, where Open shows the filed document on Companies House when it has one. Type and description are Companies House's own, in English.

The section appears only when Companies House returned filings. Charges have no section of their own: they are the Registered charges row in Identity and registered office.

Filings and charges are informative only. If either query fails, the recommendation does not change and no reason line appears. So if the filings section is missing, or charges read Could not be read from the register, look at Sources.

Sources

Every query the check made to Companies House and GLEIF, kept for audit. You do not need it to decide, but it tells you what was asked, when, and what came back. The header gives the number of queries.

• Companies House answers are reused for up to 10 minutes, and GLEIF answers for up to 24 hours. A cached row shows the time of the original query, as the note under the table says. Run again skips the saved answers.
• The Request addresses are a record of what the panel asked. To see the company on the official site, use Open in Companies House in Identity and registered office.
• The sanctions lists are held by the panel, not queried live, so they are not listed here: their versions are in Sanctions screening. The GLEIF parent lookups are not listed either.

At the bottom of the section:

• Check reference: the unique reference of this check. Give it to your Bouncer contact if you need help with a check.
• Panel and rules: the versions of the panel and of the rules that produced the recommendation.
• SHA-256 of the recorded response: a fingerprint of exactly what the panel recorded for this check. The printable report carries the same value, so a report can be matched to the check it came from.

Recording a decision

The recommendation is advice. The decision is yours, and you record it in Your decision:

1. Under What do you decide?, choose Approve, Reject or Escalate. Nothing is selected at first.
2. Write a Comment. Its label shows (required) or (optional) depending on your choice.
3. Select Record decision. The button reads Recording… while it saves, then the panel confirms Decision recorded.

The comment is optional only when you approve a check whose recommendation is approve. It is required when you reject, when you escalate, and when you approve a check recommended review or reject. It can be up to 2,000 characters. If something is missing, the panel says "Choose a decision." or "Write a comment: it is required for this decision."

The help text under the comment reads: "Required when rejecting, escalating or departing from the recommendation. Up to 2,000 characters. Escalate records that someone else should look at it; nobody is notified automatically."

What happens to a decision once it is recorded:

• It is permanent. A decision cannot be edited or deleted. If you change your mind, record a new one, and both stay. The footer of the panel says so: "A decision cannot be edited or deleted. If you change your mind, record a new one: both stay in the history."
• The latest one counts. It is what Decision shows at the top of the check and what the check history shows. The list under the form shows every decision, newest first, as by [user], [time] followed by its comment.
• It is attributed to you. Each decision records the email address you signed in with, and the date and time.
• Anyone in your organisation can decide. Any member can record a decision on any of the organisation's checks, not only the person who ran the check.
• It belongs to one check. Run again creates a new check with no decision, and the earlier decisions stay on the earlier check.

The printable report

1. Select Printable report at the top of the check. The report opens in a new tab.
2. Select Print or save as PDF, then choose to save as PDF in your browser's print window. The suggested file name is "Company check report, [company], [YYYY-MM-DD]", with the date of the check.

The report is drawn from what the panel recorded for the check. It always prints light, on A4. Only people signed in to your organisation can open it, so to share it with anyone else, save it as PDF. Back to the check returns to the check, and the EN and ES buttons change the report's language.

It contains, in this order:

1. The title, Company check report, with the check reference.

2. The company block: the name, the country, register and company number, then Register status, Recommendation, any sanctions label and the latest Decision.

3. Check details:

   Row	What it shows
   Reference	The check reference.
   Checked at	When the check ran, in your local time with the zone name, followed by the same moment in UTC in brackets.
   Report generated	When you opened the report, in your local time.
   Checked by	The email address of the person who ran the check.
   Search text	What was typed in the search, or the company number.
   Country	United Kingdom (GB).
   Coverage	"The official register, queried live through its API at the moment of the check."
   Register	A link to Companies House.
   Panel and rules	The versions of the panel and of the rules.
   SHA-256	The same fingerprint as on the check page.

4. Recommendation and reasons, with its legend.

5. Recorded decisions, newest first, each with who recorded it, when, and the comment. If there are none: "No human decision had been recorded when this report was generated."

6. Identity and registered office.

7. Current officers: current officers only, with a line such as "[n] former officers are recorded in the check and not listed here."

8. Beneficial owners, Group structure (GLEIF), Sanctions screening and Sources.

The report leaves out filings and former officers. It also asks your browser to print the company name and the check reference at the top left of every page, and the page number out of the total at the bottom right; whether they appear depends on your browser.

The report shows the decisions recorded at the moment you open it. If someone records a new decision later, open the report again to include it.

It ends with three notice paragraphs:

This report reproduces the data returned by the sources listed, at the times shown. Bouncer Digital does not alter it and does not warrant that the sources are complete or accurate.

The recommendation is automated advice based on documented rules; the decision is the reviewer’s. A source marked as not available is not evidence of absence.

It contains personal data from public registers: keep it only as long as your compliance purpose requires (UK GDPR). The SHA-256 lets you verify it against the audit log.

You cannot open the audit log from the panel. If a report ever needs to be checked against it, ask your Bouncer contact, giving the check reference and the SHA-256.