Who is behind a company, in twelve seconds

Twelve seconds. That is how long it once took me to find a company at Companies House, according to Uncle Arthur, who was there. He has brought it up several times since, as though it were a trick. It is a public register. Anybody can do it, and this is how.

1. Get the exact name. A limited company has to show its registered name where it does business, and on its letters, invoices and website. Look at the foot of the web page or the bottom of the receipt. You want the name that ends in Limited or Ltd and, if it is printed, the company number.

2. Search the register. Companies House keeps the register of every limited company in the United Kingdom. The search is on GOV.UK. It is free and you do not need an account. Type in the name or the number. That is the twelve seconds.

3. Read the overview. The registered office, the date the company was formed, what it says it does, and whether its accounts are up to date.

4. Open the list of people. Every director is there, including the ones who have resigned, with the date of appointment and the month and year of birth. Click on a name and you get every other company that person has been appointed to. Beside the directors are the persons with significant control. The usual test is more than a quarter of the shares or the votes. In most cases that is who owns it.

5. Read the filing history. Most people skip this. It is every document the company has sent in, with the date, free to download. One filing tells you very little. The order they come in tells you more. A company that keeps moving its registered office is telling you something. So is one whose accounts are always late. Neither has yet told you what.

The register has one weakness. It records what a company says about itself. Treat every line as a statement and check it against a second source.

Do all of this before you go near a person. A filing history cannot refuse to answer, and it does not tell anyone you were asking. Then, when you do ask, you know what you are looking for.

Uncle Arthur says research is not the same as investigation. It is the first step of it.

Cost: nothing. Time: twelve seconds to find the company and one free period to read what it has filed.