SS ACCOUNTING SERVICES is pleased to share important accounting data information:
Companies House will make all of its digital data free of charge from April 2015.
This means it will now be free for accountants to research clients and prospects’ businesses. The UK is the first country to fully open up a register of business information.
In 2013/14 those seeking information on the CH website spent £8.7m in doing so. The move is a bid by the government to “improve corporate transparency”, part of the 2014 G8 declaration. It was announced as part of a Public Data Group Summer Statement, which included planned data releases and activities by CH and other data bodies such as the Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and Met Office.
The Summer Statement forms part of an updated Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Open Data Strategy, which sets out support for open data across BIS and its partner organisations.
These activities include the creation of the Open Data Institute, Innovation Vouchers from the Technology Strategy Board and the work of the Research Councils, as well as activities in higher and further education.
Business secretary Vince Cable said much value can be added to the UK’s economy by making, for example, CH data open to all.
“By making its data freely available and free of charge, Companies House is making the UK a more transparent, efficient and effective place to do business,” he said