Stock market investors can be surprised to learn just how much information is easily available to them to assist their research when thinking about investing in a particular company.

In the UK we have Companies House, and you can access Companies House at the website www.companieshouse.gov.uk. It is part of the Government Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

It can be a useful facility, and a revealing one about a particular business. Add it to your list of intelligence sources when looking into a business. 

1.     Use Your Intelligence

As a potential investor it might be worthwhile to take a little time to familiarise yourself with Companies House and the services it offers. You may be surprised at the level of detailed intelligence on a particular company that you can access from this source, including detailed financial information on a company, details regarding its Directors, detailed lists of disqualified Directors and a whole range of additional intelligence.

Every company in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland is registered with Companies House. The Companies House website contains details on over 2 million companies that are currently registered, with an additional 300,000 companies listed every year. That is quite some resource.

2.     Find Out What You Want Know About A Company

Companies House provides a range of services such as the WebCHeck facility. This tool is free and enables you to find details on over 2 million companies. For a nominal fee, often as little as £1, you can access an additional range of detailed reports and financial information on a given company as well. It’s quite surprising just how much detail is available from this source, making Companies House a valuable additional research tool to your wider intelligence gathering when considering investing in a particular company.

Free information available from Companies House includes the date of incorporation, company type, status, insolvency details and key filing dates amongst other information.

Additional information includes company reports, financial information, appointments, document images and a wealth of additional material.

3.     Public Eyes

Facilities like those offered by Companies House can also act as your private eyes on the public activity of a company. You can use the monitor facility to inform you as and when a company submits new accounts, notifications and a range of additional intelligence.

When the likes of Warren Buffet were starting out, when looking into the background of a particular company it required lengthy and detailed work. Facilities like the internet, and sites like Companies House, have revolutionised the way that anyone considering becoming involved in a company can access detailed information to inform their thinking.

As part of your approach to considering investing in a company, take a little time to visit Companies House and familiarise yourself with the intelligence available. If it fills just one gap in your research on a company, it will have been worthwhile.

Jamie E Smith is the author of Making Money From Stocks And Shares

This content was provided by one of our users, Jamie