Data Sources
One source of truth: the official UK register
Every company fact on FirmVerdict comes from Companies House, the UK registrar of companies. We do not buy, scrape or estimate private data — and every figure links back to the filing it came from.
The public register
Company names, numbers, incorporation dates, registered addresses, status, SIC codes and filing history come from the Companies House public API and register. This data is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Filed accounts — iXBRL first
Most UK companies now file accounts in iXBRL, a machine-readable format where each figure is tagged. We extract tagged facts directly — this is the most reliable source and carries the highest confidence label.
Filed accounts — PDF fallback
Older filings and some small companies exist only as scanned or typeset PDFs. These are parsed with text extraction and, where necessary, AI assistance. PDF-derived figures are always labelled as such, carry a confidence indicator, and never overwrite tagged iXBRL data.
What these sources cannot tell you
- Filed accounts are backward-looking — the most recent filing can be many months old
- Micro-entity and small-company accounts disclose limited detail
- The register shows what was filed, not whether it was accurate — that is what audit and enforcement are for
- Companies House data does not include payment behaviour, bank data or credit scores
Verify everything yourself
Every figure on FirmVerdict links to the original filing at Companies House. We encourage you to check it — our methodology page explains the full extraction and scoring pipeline.
Know the company. Understand the risk. Document the decision.
Search any UK registered company and see the filed evidence behind the numbers.
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