Company-level tracking
The firm marks a company complete without recording each relevant individual.
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HMRC & Companies House
Companies House Identity Verification for Your Whole Client Base
Identity verification is not one email. It is a portfolio programme involving different people, deadlines and routes—and the rules are still being phased in.
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Companies House syncCustom fields and data tokensBulk client emails and newslettersRecurring tasks
Quick answer
Segment affected directors, PSCs and other roles; confirm the current Companies House phase and deadline; decide whether people verify directly or through an ACSP; issue precise instructions; and track each person to completion. Remindoo can sync company details and record status, tasks and messages, but it does not perform identity checks or submit verification.
You’re not alone: why does this feel so frustrating?
The difficult part is scale. One company may have several officers and PSCs, each with a different route, response and deadline. A spreadsheet can look complete while hiding the one unverified person who matters.
Companies House is introducing requirements in phases. Firms must avoid presenting a future requirement as already live, or an ACSP service as mandatory when direct verification may be available.
Why does this keep happening in accounting firms?
Generic communication
Clients receive a warning but not the exact action, route or date relevant to them.
Unclear ACSP decision
The firm has not decided whether it will verify clients or refer them to the direct service.
Rules keep moving
Old internal notes are reused without checking the latest official phase.
What is this costing your firm?
A poorly controlled identity-verification rollout consumes partner attention that should be spent on judgement, relationships and developing the team. The hidden cost is context switching: a five-minute interruption often breaks a much longer block of concentrated work.
Unclear ownership creates duplicated effort. One person assumes somebody else has acted, another repeats the chase, and the partner becomes the unofficial control system. That is exhausting and difficult to scale.
Client trust can also erode. Clients rarely see the internal cause; they see slow answers, inconsistent messages or last-minute requests. A reliable process protects the relationship even when the underlying issue is outside the firm's control.
How do accountants manage Companies House ID verification across clients?
- 1
Confirm the current phase
Read current Companies House guidance and identify which roles and filing events are live. Mark changing operational points [VERIFY] until checked.
- 2
Build a person-level list
Map every relevant director, PSC, LLP member or other role to the companies in your portfolio.
- 3
Choose the service model
Decide whether the firm will register and act as an ACSP, support direct verification, or use both routes.
- 4
Send role-specific instructions
Explain the correct route, evidence, personal code and action date without overstating the firm's role.
- 5
Track completion and evidence
Record status per person, confirmation and any Companies House statement or code needed for the next step.
- 6
Review the official guidance
Re-check before each phase and update workflows and client wording.
How do you make the change stick in a busy practice?
A sensible fix can still fail when it is announced as a new rule and left to compete with client work. Treat the change as a small operational project. Give it an owner, a start date, a review date and a clear definition of success. Test it with a representative group before asking the whole firm to change at once.
1. Put “confirm the current phase” into daily practice
Read current Companies House guidance and identify which roles and filing events are live. Mark changing operational points [VERIFY] until checked. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
2. Put “build a person-level list” into daily practice
Map every relevant director, PSC, LLP member or other role to the companies in your portfolio. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
3. Put “choose the service model” into daily practice
Decide whether the firm will register and act as an ACSP, support direct verification, or use both routes. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
4. Put “send role-specific instructions” into daily practice
Explain the correct route, evidence, personal code and action date without overstating the firm's role. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
5. Put “track completion and evidence” into daily practice
Record status per person, confirmation and any Companies House statement or code needed for the next step. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
6. Put “review the official guidance” into daily practice
Re-check before each phase and update workflows and client wording. Write down who owns this step, what evidence shows it happened and when an exception must be escalated. Ask one person who performs the work and one person who reviews it to test the wording. If they interpret it differently, the process is not yet clear enough.
What should partners ask at the weekly review?
Keep the review short and evidence-led. Ask what is waiting, who owns the next action, which internal date is at risk, what the client has been told and whether the same exception has appeared before. The purpose is not to inspect every keystroke. It is to remove ambiguity while there is still time to act.
- Which item has no clear next owner?
- Which promised date is most at risk?
- What are we waiting for from outside the firm?
- Has the client received an accurate update?
- Is this an isolated case or a repeated process failure?
- What decision needs partner judgement today?
What does a realistic 90-day improvement plan look like?
Days 1–30: establish the baseline. Review recent examples, speak to the people doing the work and identify the smallest repeated failure worth fixing. Agree one rule and one owner. Do not redesign the whole practice while the team is still trying to describe the problem.
Days 31–60: run the new process on live work. Record exceptions rather than quietly working around them. Check whether staff can find the right client context, whether dates are realistic and whether the client communication matches what the firm can deliver.
Days 61–90: review the evidence with the team. Keep what improved control, simplify what created administration and stop anything that merely moved the problem elsewhere. Document the final process, decide how it will be monitored and schedule the next review.
Where can Remindoo help—and where can’t it?
Use company data, custom status fields and repeatable tasks to manage the portfolio campaign.
Companies House sync
Import company details and filing deadlines.
See featureCustom fields and data tokens
Capture and reuse the data your firm needs.
See featureBulk client emails and newsletters
Update your whole client base at once.
See featureRecurring tasks
Repeat work is created automatically on schedule.
See featureAutomated reminders
Timely prompts before work becomes urgent.
See featureWhat Remindoo doesn’t do here: Remindoo does not register your firm as an ACSP or file Companies House verification statements.
Talk through the problem with us
A practical 30-minute walkthrough using your firm’s current process.
What can you change today without buying software?
Start with a written rule for Companies House identity verification accountants. Define what good looks like, who owns the next action, when it must happen and when the issue moves to a partner. Keep the rule short enough that the team will actually use it.
- Choose one owner for every next action
- Use a visible internal deadline
- Record the decision and the reason
- Review exceptions weekly, not only after something goes wrong
How do you know the fix is working?
Use a small set of operational measures that prompt a conversation rather than create a league table. Look at ageing, missed internal dates, repeated rework and work waiting without a named owner. Review the trend with the people doing the work and fix the process before blaming individuals.
Frequently asked questions
Can software solve Companies House identity verification on its own?
No. Software can make ownership, dates and evidence visible, but the firm still needs clear policies, judgement and consistent follow-through.
Where should a small practice start?
Choose one recurring problem, write down the current process, assign one owner and test a simpler version for four weeks before changing everything else.
Who must verify their identity?
Companies House guidance covers directors, PSCs, LLP members and ACSPs, with some requirements introduced in phases. Check the current page for the exact role and event.
Must an accountant become an ACSP?
An agent must register as an ACSP if it verifies identity for clients. Wider filing requirements are being phased; check current Companies House guidance.
Can a client verify directly?
Companies House provides a direct verification route for eligible users as well as verification through an ACSP.
How long should an ACSP keep evidence?
Current Companies House guidance says ACSPs must retain identity-verification records for seven years. Re-check the standard before relying on it.
Related challenges and practical guides
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Sources
Last updated: . General guidance, not legal, tax, medical or regulatory advice. Check current primary guidance and take appropriate professional advice.
Why a single client record matters
When client details, deadlines, documents and conversations are spread across inboxes and spreadsheets, time goes on searching instead of on client work.
One version of the truth
Everyone sees the same services, contacts, deadlines and notes for each client.
Accurate deadlines
Companies House sync brings in company details and filing dates, reducing manual errors.
Better client service
A full timeline means anyone can answer a client question with the history in front of them.
Secure document sharing
A client portal is safer than sending financial documents as email attachments.
Practical tips from UK practice
- Import companies from Companies House rather than typing details by hand.
- Record every service a client takes, so recurring work is created automatically.
- Add a short note after every important client call.
- Ask clients to upload documents through the portal rather than by email.
Related Remindoo features
Written and reviewed by Waqas Sagar ACA FCCA FMAAT, Chartered Accountant with 18+ years in practice. Founder and MD of Accotax, an ICAEW, ACCA and AAT regulated London practice that has served over 5,000 clients, and founder of Remindoo. Guidance is general; check current GOV.UK and professional body guidance for your firm.
What UK practices say about Remindoo
Read all reviews on Trustpilot“With Remindoo, everything from the first enquiry to onboarding and ongoing client management is tracked in one place… It saves us hours and gives me, as a practice owner, complete visibility of where the firm stands.”
“The biggest benefit is having clients, tasks, deadlines, workflows, proposals and communication all organised in one place.”
“During my trial, the team were absolutely amazing. They helped onboard my clients, set up my settings and made sure everything was ready for me to use… they made the whole process completely stress-free.”
“It brings client information, tasks, recurring deadlines, workflows and reminders together in one place, giving us much better visibility across the team.”
