Frequently Asked Questions

Our Full Company Details Are:

CFI Limited (Company Fraud Investigations) is the company which owns and operates CompanyAlert, which is a trading name and style of the limited company CFI. Registered Office: 80-83 Long Lane LONDON EC1A 9ET United Kingdom. Registered in England and Wales Company Number 06571083. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under the Data Protection Act 1998 Registration No. Z1320659. VAT Registration Number 931 0796 28. More information regarding CFI Limited can be found at www.cfi.ltd.uk

CompanyAlert Is An Internet Based System Designed to Protect Their Subscribers Against Bad Debt.

Company Alert currently has complete data on 4.4 million UK companies and 450,000 Irish companies, which is updated every 24 hours. Through our expertise and business information, we have developed 4 main products designed to help protect your business against potential bad debt and or fraud.

1. Unique Advanced Daily Monitoring Service.

Our unique ‘Internet Based Early Warning System’ is designed to protect companies against bad debt and potential fraud; it has been created and developed for companies which offer credit facilities to their business customers and would like to be kept informed of potential risks relating to those customers. The service provides computerised daily monitoring of any change, which is then expertly analysed by trained investigators and a level of alert placed on ALL events with a considered risk element. CompanyAlert then personally contact their client when a serious risk is detected regarding a company they are monitoring. Company Alert is the ONLY Company to offer this service.

2. Full Company Credit Reports With 3 or 5 Year Accounts.

Company and Director Reports are instantly available online 24 hours a day which cover the entire UK and include Companies in Ireland, subscribers of our ‘Advanced Monitoring Service’ benefit by receiving a 50% discount on all reports which are updated every 24 hours. Although CompanyAlert reports are extremely competitive compared with other Company Credit Reference Agencies, the quality of our product and information has in no way been compromised.

3. Companies House Documents.

UK Companies are obligated to file various information with Companies House at certain times each year such as Annual Accounts and Annual Returns, other forms are also are subject to filing requirements as and when necessary. All Documents filed at Companies House are available to download through our system from our live Companies House Feed between 7.00 am and 11.59pm 7 days a week.

4. International Company Credit Reports.

We also supply International Company Credit Reports covering more than 150 Countries; Apart from Ireland these are not available online at present, however most European Reports are delivered via email within 24 hours of request, Countries outside the EU are generally available within 5 working days. The availability and the information contained in International Company Credit Reports vary from country to country mainly due to each Counties filing regulations.

CompanyAlert Monitor Statutory Events And Anomalies To Help Predict Bad Debt And/Or Fraud.

The reasons associated with the numbered answers below are a rough guide to why we monitor these events and why there is a need, on occasion, for further investigation!

Companies House, the London and Edinburgh Gazette, Registries Trust and Many Other Media Streams.

The data that provides the intelligence for our Company Credit Reports and facilitates our monitoring service is from a number of different sources - including, but not limited to, Companies House, the London and Edinburgh Gazette, Registries Trust and countless news streams. Our data is updated every 24 hours.

CompanyAlert Use Trained Investigators To Assess Each Change And Also Monitor Events Which Auto Monitoring Services Can Not.

There are many differences between our Daily Advanced Monitoring Service and the other auto monitoring services that are available. When an event is detected through an automated system, you may receive an email a week later with notification of a change, if the email doesn’t end up in your spam folder, it will probably ask you to buy a report to find out what the change was? Then you shall need to assess the relevance of the change!

Our System detects daily changes to Monitored Companies which are then manually assessed by Highly Trained Investigators, who if necessary append a level of alert to the change. We also inform you of what the change is and should an event warrant a ‘High Alert’ classification you would also receive a phone call to guarantee you are aware of the high alert status.

Our minimum charge for this service is £10 per month for which you are able to monitor up to 20 companies, each company thereafter is charged at £0.50p per company, per calendar month, companies added part month are charged pro rota. Our minimum subscription period is 12 months

No, You Can Add As Many Companies As You Wish At Any Time.

During your trial period the maximum number of companies you can add to your portfolio is 100 (unless otherwise agreed). This is achieved by logging into your admin area and selecting the Add Companies link, in this section you can quickly select all the companies you wish to add before confirming.

When you have completed your trial membership, you can add as many companies to your monitoring portfolio as you wish; the service is available 24 hours a day.

No, You Can Download Company Reports And/Or Company Documents On A Pay-As-You-Go Basis.

Our Company Reports and Companies House Documents are available on a pay-as-you-go-basis - simply search for the company for which you require a Company Credit Report or Companies House Document, click the 'Details' button on the selected company and this will return further information, including all the available documents from Companies House (only available 0700 hrs - 2359 hrs) and the relevant options that are available for that company. You are required to provide basic information for payment, invoice and retrievable options, should you wish to download your Reports/Documents at a later date.

One Of The Main Advantages Of Subscribing To Our Daily Advanced Monitoring Service Is That It Leaves You Free To Go Down To The Pub Or Take A Holiday.

Within a day or so we manually check every company entered onto our system to be 100% sure there is nothing to be concerned about, that you may not be aware of, we also enter credit limits, rating scores and thereafter our team of Trained Investigators scrutinise every change to those Companies you have placed into your portfolio and append a level of alert if required.

This saves you invaluable time and effort as our investigators know what their looking for when performing a manual check, some alerts that our investigators notice, would certainly remain hidden to the untrained eye.

Also you have the added benefit of purchasing Company Credit Reports and Companies House Documents at an amazing 50% discount. 

Yes, We Allow Most Companies To Try A 30 Day Free Trial Of Our Service.

We offer most UK registered companies a free 30 day trial of our monitoring service (subject to credit). For Non-Registered Companies, Individuals and International Companies, a free trial of the CompanyAlert Service is available solely at our discretion. During our trial we hope to demonstrate how simple and user-friendly our system is and how invaluable our monitoring service is to help you protect your company against bad debt. During our free trial subscribers are limited to 100 monitored companies.

No, It Is Impossible For A Company To Know If They Are Being Monitored Or A Report Has Been Generated.

There is no requirement to obtain a company’s permission prior to performing a credit check or downloading information they have filed at Companies House. CompanyAlert DO NOT pass on any information to any third parties relating to any data accessed or downloaded by any of our clients. 

Yes, VAT Invoices Are Provided On All Our Services At The Current UK Rate Of 15%.

All Invoices are emailed together with Credit Reports and Companies House Documents when purchased on a pay-as-you-go basis. Subscribers to our monitoring service receive a monthly invoice, via email, of all activity on their account. We try to avoid posting invoices as much as possible. Historic invoices can be downloaded at any time through your log-in section, or emailed on request from our customer service department.

Yes, All Activity On Your Account Is Saved, Unless You Are A Pay And Go User.

Subscribers to our monitoring service have their admin portfolio area where they can overview any historic reports or Companies House Documents purchased and download as often as they wish. This area also allows them to view a company’s credit and rating history. Ad-Hoc users who have elected to take advantage of our free storage area, can store purchases for up to 12 months.

Yes, with UK Limited Companies once you have created an account, you may upload as many companies as you wish in one file.

Please make sure you have the correct registration numbers of the companies you wish to monitor, this is the registered number allocated to the company from Companies House. Email a .csv file (comma separated value file format) or .xls file (Microsoft Excel file format) to customerservices@companyalert.co.uk and enter; ‘please add to my monitoring’ in the subject.

Our 3 And 5 Year Full Company Credit Reports Are Very Comprehensive.

1. Statutory Information

• Basic company information: registered company name, number and address, type of accounts filed and relevant filing dates.
• Company Name
• Company Number
• Company Type
• Address
• Postcode
• Telephone
• Telephone Preference Service
• Incorporation Date
• Annual Return Date
• Accounts Filing Date 
• Latest Accounts Date
• SIC Code
• Description
• Industry
• Trading Addresses
• Previous Names

2. Risk Information

• Credit Rating
• Credit Rating History
• Credit Scores
• Credit Score History
• County Court Judgements Summary
• CCJ Details
• Status History
• Event History
• Filing History at Companies House

3. Financial Information

• 3 and 5 year Accounts
• Profit and Loss
• Consolidated Accounts
• Turnover
• Export
• Cost of Sales
• Gross Profit
• Wages and Salaries
• Operating Profits
• Depreciation
• Audit Fees
• Interest Payments
• Taxation
• Post Tax
• Dividends Payable
• Retained Profits
• Balance Sheet
• Tangible Assets
• Intangible Assets
• Trade Debtors
• Stock
• Cash
• Other Current Assets
• Increase in Cash
• Misc Current Assets
• Total Assets
• Total Current Liabilities
• Trade Creditors
• Overdraft
• Other Short Term Finance
• Misc Current Liabilities
• Other Long Term Finance
• Long Term Liabilities
• Overdraft Long Term Liabilities
• Liabilities
• Net Assets
• Working Capital
• Capital Reserves
• Paid-up Equity
• Profit/Loss Reserve
• Sundry Reserves
• Revaluation Reserve
• Reserves
• Net Worth
• Shareholder Funds
• Miscellaneous
• Net Cash Flow From Operations
• Net Cash Flow Before Financing
• Net Cash Flow From Financing
• Contingent Liability
• Capital Employed
• Employees
• Auditors
• Audit Qualification Adverse Comments
• Bankers
• Bank Branch Code
• Ratios
• Pre-Tax Margin
• Networking Capital
• Gearing Ratio
• Equity
• Creditor Days
• Debtor Days
• Liquidity
• Return Non-Capital Employed
• Return Non-Assets Employed  
• Current Ratio
• Total Debt Ratio
• Stock Turnover Ration
• Return Non-Net Assets Employed
• Current Debt Ratio

4. Ownership

• Shareholder Summary
• Shareholders Details
• Directors
• Directorships of Other Companies
• Mortgages Summary
• Mortgage Details

To Prevent Your Company From Being Hi-jacked.

Limited Company Hi-Jacking, is where criminals target a company with a good credit rating - find out as much information as they can and ‘Hi-Jack’ the identity of the Company for their own fraudulent benefits. They achieve this by completing a false ‘Change of Registered Office Form’ (Form 287) and submitting it to Companies House.

Once accepted they are then in control of ‘The Registered Office’ address and set about applying for credit, goods and services with no intention of paying for them. Companies House DO-NOT check the validity of applications for change in a company’s registered office.

We include your company to the list free of charge when monitoring others, you shall then be notified of all changes to your own company – when you receive a change which you haven’t made, you can protect your company and contact the appropriate authorities.

Yes – If A Sudden Loss Of Goods Or Services Would Affect Your Business

Monitoring your suppliers would totally depend on how the sudden lack of supply from a particular company would impact on your company or you might be in a situation where you have paid for goods or services in advance.

If alerted to potential problem with a supply of product at an early stage, contingency plans can be put into place to maintain the smooth operation of your own business.

If Any Of Your Competitors Businesses Fail – Your Company Could Benefit

If you were aware early enough to the possibility of one or more of your competitors companies entering into liquidation, there could be a multitude of possibilities available for your company to benefit. 

The potential of purchasing assets from the receiver, extra business from their customers and or employing key members of their staff, but above all else the knowledge early enough to consider your options.

There are 3 main reasons that you are having problems locating the correct company that you are seeking from the returned search results.

1. The most common reason is that you know the company by their abbreviated name and not the company’s full name, many companies often refer to themselves using just their initials EG  ‘XYZ Ltd.‘ instead of the full company registered name ‘X-ray Yankee Zulu Limited’.
   
2. A company may be better known by its trading name EG Big Town Engineering Ltd. trading as ‘Iron Gates’.
   
3. There may be multiple names to choose from which look the same or very similar which is due to previous names of limited companies who are no longer trading or non limited companies which are allowed to have the same name.  

To make sure you select the company report for the correct company you are dealing with its worth noting the following:

All companies Must regardless of whether they are limited or not, disclose certain information to anyone they do business with such as; the corporate name (if the company uses a different trading name); or the name of each partner; or the individual person's name; and in relation to each person named, an address at which documents can be served.

This information should be displayed in any place where they carry on their business and where they deal with customers or suppliers; on business correspondence; on websites; on written orders for the supply of goods or services; on invoices and receipts; on written demands for the payment of business debts. Failure to do so is a criminal offence under the Business Names Act 1985.

The easiest way to check a company’s correct details is to perform a search on Google.co.uk and locate their web address. Once in their web site, either at the foot of their home page or in their contact details you should find the information required to select the correct company when performing a search for their company report. 

Yes, But Only Ireland At Present.

We can already monitor companies registered in Ireland and shall be able to include Belgium, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia before the end of 2010. We are looking to include the rest of Europe who shall come on board soon after.

Your Browser May Have Blocked It Or It May Have Timed Out.

If you are a subscriber or have created an ad-hoc storage area you can retrieve your Reports or Companies House Documents at any time in the future (12 months for Ad-Hoc users). All purchases are also automatically emailed to your given email address together with a confirmation of the charge and invoice or receipt.

Your browser may have downloaded your documents directly into your downloads area or added to files to your desktop, but if you are having difficult locating your reports or documents please contact our customer services department at customerservices@companyalert.co.uk

If you purchased your order through our pay and go service and entered your email address incorrectly and didn’t receive your order, you shall need to contact our customer services department during normal working office hours.

Most Information Is Updated And Included Within 24 Hours Apart From Accounts.

The majority of filings at Companies House are added to a Company’s Credit Report within 24 hours of the document being received, processed and accepted by Companies House. Accounts are analysed before a credit score and/or credit rating is affected, which can take a few days and may be dependant on the time of year.