Various businesses are incorporating on Companies House under slight variations on existing trading names ahead of Companies House ID verification.

ICAEW members have reported that some member firms have had their trading names used for new limited companies that have been incorporated over the past week. At the time of publication, there is no clear indication of motive, but the activity should be treated as suspicious.

The Institute is working with Companies House to determine what has happened and how to rectify the issue.

“We are concerned by the emergence of these companies and are actively sharing our intelligence with Companies House to support their enquiries into their legitimacy,” confirmed Elaine Griffiths, ICAEW’s Director, Regulatory Practice, Professional Standards.

“We urge our member firms to routinely monitor Companies House for any newly registered entities that may be misusing their trading names or addresses, and to promptly report any suspicious activity.”

What to look out for

While more work needs to be done to determine the extent of this issue, there appears to be some commonalities with these suspicious incorporations. When checking Companies House, firms should look out for:

• limited companies;
• incorporated on 10 or 11 November 2025;
• with one company director; and
• a name that takes the trading name of an existing firm, adding ‘audit’ ‘tax’ or ‘accountancy’ to the end of it, or locations, such as ‘XYZ firm Leeds’.

Martin Clapson, Managing Partner at Price Bailey and Chair of the Association of Practising Accountants (APA), expressed concern about the prevalence of these firms and encouraged firms of all sizes to be aware of the issue.

He said: “APA member firms have been directly impacted by this issue, which is clearly a concern in terms of potential market misrepresentation as well as wider fraud. We are working closely with ICAEW and Companies House to try and get this resolved and would encourage all firms in general practice to be extra vigilant here.”

If you spot suspicious activity

Any firm that finds a suspicious company incorporated in the past week should contact Companies House to report it.