How we calculate our local company statistics
The data blocks on our city, London and specialist pages are GoForma analysis of Companies House data. They are not official statistics. This page explains where the numbers come from, what they count and what they cannot tell you.
Source
Companies House Free Company Data Product (basic company data), the monthly snapshot of every company on the register, downloaded from Companies House. Current edition: snapshot of 1 September 2026. Every data block shows the date of the snapshot it uses.
Suggested credit: "GoForma analysis of Companies House data, 1 September 2026", with a link to this page.
What we count
- Active companies: companies whose status is exactly "Active". Companies being struck off, in liquidation or administration are excluded.
- Place: the company's registered office postcode. A town figure uses the registered office post town; an area figure uses the postcode area, the letters at the start of the postcode (for example S for Sheffield or E for East London).
- New companies: active companies incorporated in the 12 months September 2025 to August 2026, also shown per 1,000 active companies in the same place.
- Accountancy firms: active companies with SIC code 69201 (accounting and auditing), 69202 (bookkeeping) or 69203 (tax consultancy) in any of their four SIC slots. "Companies per firm" is active companies divided by accountancy firms in the same place.
- Industries: a company counts in an industry if the SIC code appears in any of its four SIC slots.
- Share against UK (location quotient): the industry's share of active companies in the place divided by its share across the UK. 1.50 means one and a half times the UK share. Shown only where a place has at least 80 companies in that industry.
What we exclude, and why
Some postcodes are used as the registered office for thousands of companies, usually formation agents and virtual office providers. Counting them would make a few central postcodes look like the busiest business districts in the country. We exclude every postcode with 1,000 or more companies registered at it. In the September 2026 snapshot that removed 163 postcodes, holding 11.5% of live companies.
UK benchmarks
| Active companies (excluding high-volume addresses) | 4,503,209 |
|---|---|
| New companies, September 2025 to August 2026 | 619,362 |
| New companies per 1,000 active | 137.5 |
| Accountancy firms | 54,079 |
| Companies per accountancy firm | 83 |
Limitations
- Companies are not businesses. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are not on the Companies House register, and they make up most UK businesses. Professions that are mostly self-employed, such as hairdressers and taxi drivers, are under-counted.
- A registered office is not a trading address. A company can register at its accountant's or a virtual office address in another town.
- SIC codes are chosen by the company and are not checked. Limited liability partnerships do not have SIC codes in this data, so professions that often use LLPs, such as solicitors and accountants, are under-counted.
- One snapshot shows survivors. Companies that have dissolved drop off the register, so we do not publish long-run incorporation trends from a single snapshot.
- Not official statistics. For official counts of businesses, see the Office for National Statistics' UK business: activity, size and location.
Corrections
If you spot an error or want the underlying tables, email info@goforma.com.