You have finally got the figures together. Your CIC accounts look finished. Your Companies House deadline is getting closer, and the Submit button is sitting in front of you.
It is tempting to click it and move on.
Don’t — not yet.
For a first-time Community Interest Company director, some of the most frustrating filing problems can be caught in the few minutes before submission: the wrong accounting period, an incomplete CIC34 report, accounts that have not been approved by the directors, missing authentication details, or even trying to use the wrong Companies House filing route.
There is another reason to check carefully. Once filed, your CIC report and accounts appear on the online public record.
So, if you are about to file CIC accounts online, use this guide as your final checklist before you click Submit.
Quick Answer: What Should You Check Before Filing CIC Accounts Online?
Before submitting your CIC accounts, make sure:
- the accounts cover the correct accounting period;
- your bookkeeping and supporting records are complete;
- the directors have approved the accounts;
- the CIC34 report has been prepared;
- the CIC34 and accounts are made up to the same date;
- you have your company number and authentication code;
- you are using the correct CIC filing service; and
- you have left enough time to deal with a problem before the deadline.
Companies House’s current CIC service allows full accounts or package accounts to be filed online. Package accounts need suitable software and must be prepared in ZIP format. You also need a Companies House account, company number, authentication code and payment for the current £15 filing fee.
Before You File CIC Accounts Online, Know What You Are Actually Submitting
This is where CIC directors need to understand an important difference.
A CIC is a limited company and must prepare and deliver annual accounts to Companies House. But there is an additional CIC-specific reporting requirement.
CICs must file their accounts together with a CIC34 community interest company report.
Companies House says the CIC34 must be filed regardless of the CIC’s size or any filing exemptions, and it must be made up to the same date as the accounts.
Your statutory CIC accounts
Your statutory accounts are prepared from the company’s accounting records.
Depending on the circumstances of your CIC, they can contain information covering the company’s financial performance and position, including its income, expenditure, assets, liabilities and the disclosures required by the applicable accounting framework.
One common first-year mistake is assuming that a bookkeeping spreadsheet is the same thing as statutory accounts.
It isn’t.
Your bookkeeping provides the underlying records. Your annual statutory accounts are prepared from those records in the appropriate format.
Your CIC34 report
The CIC34 has a different purpose.
It is the Community Interest Company report and deals with the CIC-specific reporting requirements around the organisation’s activities and community benefit.
This means your annual filing is not simply:
Prepare accounts → Submit
A better way to think about it is:
Records → Statutory accounts → CIC34 → Director approval → Final checks → Submit
The 7 Checks to Make Before You Click Submit
This is the part worth bookmarking.
If your accounts are nearly ready to go, work through these seven questions before submitting anything.
1. Are you filing for the correct accounting period?
Start with the dates.
Check the period covered by your accounts and make sure the CIC34 relates to the correct period too.
Companies House requires the CIC34 to be made up to the same date as the accounts.
It sounds simple, but this is precisely the sort of detail that can be missed when everyone is working under deadline pressure.
2. Have the directors approved the accounts?
Do not assume that because your accountant has finished preparing the accounts, they can automatically be filed.
Companies House states that you must get the accounts approved by the company directors before filing them.
Directors should therefore understand what they are approving rather than treating approval as another box to tick.
3. Do the figures make sense?
Before approval, look at the accounts with some common sense.
Ask:
- Does the bank balance look right?
- Has all income been included?
- Are grants properly recorded?
- Are payroll costs complete?
- Have director payments and expenses been dealt with?
- Are there unexplained transactions?
- Have loans and significant assets been recorded appropriately?
You do not need to become an accountant overnight.
But if something looks obviously wrong, ask before you file.
4. Is your CIC34 complete?
Do not leave the CIC34 until the last minute.
And avoid reducing your community-benefit reporting to a vague sentence such as:
“We helped people in our community.”
What did your CIC actually do?
Who did it support?
What activities were delivered?
How did those activities benefit the community your CIC exists to serve?
Your CIC34 is part of your annual CIC compliance and becomes publicly available alongside the accounts.
Give it proper attention.
5. Do you have your Companies House authentication code?
Companies House currently requires your company number and company authentication code when using the dedicated CIC filing service.
Check that you have them before the deadline.
Discovering that nobody knows the authentication code on the evening your accounts are due is an avoidable source of stress.
6. Are you using the correct filing route?
This is particularly important.
CIC accounts cannot be filed using the standard Companies House WebFiling service.
Companies House provides a dedicated online service for annual CIC reports and accounts. Paper filing is also available, and appropriate software may be used in relevant circumstances.
Companies House: File your annual CIC report and accounts
Do not assume that generic instructions for filing ordinary limited-company accounts automatically apply to your CIC.
7. Have you left enough time?
Your statutory deadline should be the last possible date, not your internal target.
Imagine discovering an unexplained transaction three weeks before the deadline.
Annoying? Yes.
Usually manageable? Yes.
Now imagine discovering it late on deadline day.
Same transaction. Completely different level of pressure.
Give yourself breathing room.
How to File CIC Accounts Online With Companies House
Once those checks are complete, you can move towards submission.
The current Companies House CIC service allows you to file your annual CIC report and accounts together.
What you’ll need before starting
Companies House currently says you need:
- approved accounts;
- a Companies House account;
- your company number;
- your authentication code; and
- a debit or credit card to pay the fee.
Have everything ready before starting the submission.
Full accounts or package accounts?
The online CIC service currently supports full accounts and package accounts.
Package accounts contain more than one component. Companies House says suitable software must be used to prepare them so they can be saved in ZIP format.
If you do not know which filing option applies to the accounts you have prepared, find out before you start uploading documents.
What about dormant CICs?
Do not assume that a CIC with little or no activity automatically has nothing to file.
CICs remain subject to CIC-specific annual reporting requirements, and the appropriate accounts need to be prepared according to the company’s circumstances.
Stop: 6 Mistakes to Catch Before You Submit CIC Accounts
Some filing problems are much easier to prevent than correct.
Mistake 1: Forgetting the CIC34
This is probably the most important CIC-specific mistake.
Companies House guidance is explicit: CICs must file their accounts together with the CIC34, irrespective of company size or filing exemptions.
Mistake 2: Using ordinary WebFiling
CIC accounts cannot currently be filed using Companies House WebFiling.
Use the dedicated CIC filing route.
Mistake 3: Confusing the confirmation statement with the accounts
A CS01 confirmation statement is not your annual accounts.
They are separate Companies House obligations.
Filing one does not mean the other has been completed.
This sounds obvious once somebody explains it, but it is surprisingly easy for a first-time director to see several Companies House deadlines and assume they are all part of one annual filing.
Mistake 4: Assuming HMRC and Companies House are the same thing
They are not.
Companies House accounts and HMRC Corporation Tax compliance are separate responsibilities.
Your CIC can therefore have dealt with one obligation while another remains outstanding.
Mistake 5: Writing a weak CIC34
Think about the audience beyond the regulator.
Your CIC34 and accounts become part of the public record.
If your CIC has delivered youth programmes, employability workshops, community events, wellbeing support or other services, your report should give a meaningful account of what happened.
Do not treat community-benefit reporting as meaningless paperwork.
Mistake 6: Clicking Submit without checking the final documents
This is the simplest lesson in the entire article:
Read what you are about to file.
Check the dates.
Check the company details.
Check the figures.
Check the CIC34.
Check that the directors have approved the accounts.
Then submit.
Remember: Your CIC Accounts Become Public
This is worth emphasising because many first-time directors do not think about who might eventually read the filing.
Companies House clearly warns that your filed CIC report and accounts will appear on the online public record.
Potential readers could include:
- grant funders;
- banks;
- local authorities;
- commissioners;
- prospective partners;
- future directors; and
- members of the public.
That does not mean your CIC needs to look artificially profitable or impressive.
It means your filings should be accurate, timely and credible.
A CIC seeking funding may spend hours perfecting a grant application while forgetting that a funder can also look at its public company record.
Good compliance therefore supports more than Companies House filing. It supports trust.
What If Your Filing Deadline Is Today — or Has Already Passed?
First: do not panic.
Second: do not knowingly invent figures or submit incorrect accounts simply because the deadline is close.
Instead, establish what is actually outstanding.
Check:
- Are the statutory accounts complete?
- Is the bookkeeping up to date?
- Has the CIC34 been prepared?
- Have the directors approved the accounts?
- Do you have the authentication code?
- Are there other outstanding company filings?
Then deal with the missing pieces immediately.
There is an important difference between acting urgently and rushing.
Urgency means dealing with the problem now.
Rushing means cutting corners because you left it too late.
Aim for the first.
How to Make Next Year’s CIC Accounts Easier
Once this year’s filing is finished, resist the temptation to forget about the accounts for another year.
Build a simple system instead.
Keep the bookkeeping current.
Reconcile the bank regularly.
Keep grant agreements alongside your accounting records.
Record director payments clearly.
Keep payroll records organised.
Record your accounting year-end and Companies House deadline in a compliance calendar.
Most importantly, create an internal accounts-preparation deadline well before the statutory deadline.
And start thinking about the CIC34 throughout the year.
If your CIC runs community projects, keep records of:
- activities delivered;
- beneficiaries supported;
- outcomes achieved;
- stakeholder feedback; and
- evidence of community impact.
When the next CIC34 needs preparing, you will have meaningful information available rather than trying to reconstruct twelve months of activity from memory.
Why CIC Specialists Can Make Filing Less Stressful
CIC accounts sit at the intersection of ordinary company accounting and CIC-specific compliance.
That distinction matters.
An adviser who regularly works with Community Interest Companies can look at the statutory accounts, CIC34 and wider annual compliance position together rather than treating each document as an unrelated task.
For a first-time director, that can remove a lot of uncertainty.
Instead of repeatedly asking:
Are these the right accounts?
Have we dealt with our grants properly?
Does the CIC34 say enough?
Are we using the correct Companies House service?
What do we need to do next year?
you can build a repeatable annual compliance process.
The aim should not simply be to get this year’s accounts filed.
It should be to make next year’s accounts easier.
Frequently Asked Questions About Filing CIC Accounts Online
Can I file CIC accounts online myself?
Companies House provides a dedicated online service through which CICs can file annual CIC reports and supported accounts.
However, being able to submit accounts is different from knowing whether they have been prepared correctly. If you are uncertain about the figures or reporting requirements, consider getting advice before filing.
Can I use Companies House WebFiling for CIC accounts?
No. Companies House’s current guidance specifically states that CIC accounts cannot be filed using Web Filing.
How much does it cost to file the CIC report?
The current Companies House fee is £15. Online payment can be made by debit or credit card.
Do I need to file a CIC34 with my accounts?
Yes. CICs must file their accounts with a CIC34 report, regardless of the CIC’s size or filing exemptions. )
Do the CIC34 and accounts need the same date?
Yes. Companies House guidance says the CIC report must be made up to the same date as the accounts.
Do directors need to approve CIC accounts before filing?
Yes. Companies House says the accounts must be approved by the company’s directors before they are filed.
Will my CIC accounts be visible to the public?
Yes. The CIC report and accounts you file appear on the online public record.
Is my confirmation statement the same as my CIC accounts?
No. Your confirmation statement is a separate company filing and should not be confused with the statutory accounts or CIC34.
Final Thoughts: Check Twice Before You Click Submit
If you are ready to file CIC accounts online, remember that clicking Submit should be the last step — not the point where you start checking whether everything is correct.
Before submitting, ask yourself:
Are the accounts correct?
Have the directors approved them?
Is the CIC34 complete?
Are the dates right?
Are we using the correct Companies House filing route?
If the answer to any of those questions is “I’m not sure”, stop and check.
A little time spent reviewing the filing now can save a considerable amount of stress later.
Prepare carefully. Review properly. File through the correct route. Check that the filing has gone through.
Then put next year’s deadline in the calendar while this year’s experience is still fresh.
How we can help
About to file your CIC accounts but not completely sure everything is right?
That is the time to get help — before you click Submit.
KG Accountants specialise in Community Interest Companies. We can help with the preparation of your statutory CIC accounts, Corporation Tax return, CIC34 report and Companies House filing requirements, giving you a clearer annual compliance process and reducing the pressure on directors.
If your CIC accounts are approaching the deadline, already overdue, or you are unsure whether they have been prepared correctly, dealing with the issue now can help prevent a manageable problem becoming more stressful.
All our fees are fixed
All our fees are fixed.
By giving you a fixed and competitive price, we can take away the worry over the cost of preparing your statutory accounts and tax returns, allowing you to concentrate on running your CIC and delivering for your community.
Not sure whether your CIC accounts are ready to file?
Call us today on 0207 078 7477 or complete our enquiry form to arrange a FREE initial consultation with a CIC specialist.
Arrange a FREE initial consultation
Tel: 0207 078 7477
If you simply have a question about your CIC accounts, CIC34 report or Companies House filing, call us on 0207 078 7477 or send us your question online.
Do not wait until the filing deadline to discover something is missing. Get your CIC accounts checked and dealt with before a straightforward annual filing becomes a compliance problem.
Categories: cic accounts, CIC Accounts, Community Interest Companies
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