The company that was meant to be closed last year
A client retired, or a side business stopped trading, and asked the practice to close the company. The final accounts were done. Someone said they would apply to strike it off. A year later, Companies House writes about an overdue confirmation statement, the bank account is still open with a small balance, and the client is surprised to learn the company still exists.
Closures are rarely difficult. They are just long, spread over months, and dependent on the client doing things like closing a bank account or telling you it is done.
A job with no natural owner
Most practice jobs recur: accounts, returns, payroll. A closure happens once, so there is no template in the practice software and no habit around it. The steps are known to experienced staff but not written down, and different staff do them in different orders.
The client's part is often the sticking point. Bank accounts, payroll schemes, VAT registration and other registrations all need closing or deregistering, and some of that the client must do themselves. If the practice does not prompt them, it does not happen, and the closure stalls without anyone noticing.
There is often a tax side as well, with final returns and deregistrations, and the order in which things happen can matter. That makes a written, shared checklist more important, because the person who knows the right order is not always the person doing the work.
What drifting closures cost
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Steps done out of order | A strike-off delayed or objected to |
| Client tasks not prompted | Bank accounts and registrations left open |
| No tracking after application | Nobody watches for the dissolution |
| Company still live | Filing reminders and possible penalties keep arriving |
| Knowledge in one head | Only one person knows how the practice does it |
It also sits awkwardly on billing. Closure work is spread over months, and without a clear job the time is often recorded against other work or not recorded at all.
The closure tracker we build
- Your practice defines its closure checklist once: the steps, their order, who owns each one, and what the client must do. Your team decides the steps; we structure them.
- Starting a closure on a client creates the checklist as a job in your practice management system, with each step assigned.
- The client receives their own short list, such as closing the bank account or confirming a date, with a way to tick off each item and upload confirmation.
- The company is monitored through the Companies House API, so filings, the strike-off application, any gazette notice and final dissolution appear on the closure job automatically.
- Steps overdue by your practice's standards are flagged to the manager, and the client gets a reminder for anything they still owe.
- Once dissolved, the job closes, final billing is prompted and the client record is marked, so no more recurring work is scheduled.
Whether and how a company should be closed is for the client and your practice. The tracker makes sure the agreed steps get done and watched through to the end.
Closures that actually finish
Every closure has a list, an owner for each step and a visible status. Clients know exactly what they need to do. Companies House events are tracked without anyone checking by hand. And a company the client thinks is closed really is, with the practice's recurring work stopped at the right point.
Clients also appreciate knowing where things stand. Closing a business is often an emotional moment, and a clear list of what is done and what is left removes some of the uncertainty.
Is this how closures go at your practice?
- You have client companies that were meant to be closed long ago
- Closure steps are not written down
- Clients forget to close bank accounts or registrations
- Nobody watches for dissolution after the application
- Recurring jobs keep being scheduled for closed companies