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The Company details template captures the entity's registered details and legal form at the start of an unincorporated Working Papers file. It matters because the rest of the file, in particular the templates dealing with the owner's capital account and the allocation of profits, needs to know whether it is working with a sole trader or a partnership.

Table of contents 

When should I use this template?

Use this template at the start of the working papers process for a sole trader or partnership client, before you work through the other reconciliations. It appears automatically in the Unincorporated Working Papers workflow (including the Medical variant), so you do not need to add it manually.

Before you start

  • Make sure the company name and registered address are entered correctly on the Edit Client page. This template displays them, but you cannot edit them here.
  • Know whether the client is a sole trader or a partnership and, if a sole trader, whether they trade under a name that differs from their own.

Background

This is a straightforward data-capture working paper, and nothing in it is shaped by a specific accounting standard. It exists to record the entity's basic facts once, so that they are available consistently across the rest of the file.

Steps

  1. Company name and Registered address are shown automatically from the company record and cannot be edited here. If the street, city or country is missing, a warning icon appears next to the address to tell you that it can be completed on the Edit Client page.
  2. Legal form of entity: choose Sole trader or Partnership from the dropdown. This is required, and it drives how other templates in the workflow behave (see below).
  3. If you selected Sole trader, answer Are the Business name and the Proprietor name the same? by choosing Yes or No. This is required.
  4. If you answered No, a Proprietor name field appears. Enter the individual's name here. This is required once it appears.

What flows through to the rest of the accounts/workflow?

Several other templates in the workflow read the Legal form of entity answer, including the templates that record the owner's capital and current accounts and the allocation of taxable profits. They use it to decide whether to present a single owner's figures or split them across multiple partners. Getting this answer right here means those templates behave correctly without you having to tell them again.

What rolls forward next year?

The Legal form of entity, the same-name answer and the Proprietor name (where entered) all carry forward automatically to next year, so you only need to set them up once and update them if anything changes. The company name and registered address are not stored on this template at all: they always reflect whatever is currently held on the Edit Client page.

Where the data comes from

  • Company name and Registered address: the company record (Edit Client page).
  • Legal form of entity, same-name answer and Proprietor name: entered directly on this template.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I edit the company name or address on this template?

These fields are pulled live from the company record. Update them on the Edit Client page and they will refresh here automatically.

Why isn't this template showing in my file?

Check whether the Sole trader general settings template elsewhere in the file has already been completed for this period. If it has, this template hides itself to avoid asking for the same details twice.

What if my client is a limited company?

This template is only part of the Unincorporated Working Papers workflow, for sole traders and partnerships, so it will not appear for limited companies.