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The documents you get when a company is formed
What each document is for, who will ask you for it, and which ones you must keep.
On incorporation you receive a certificate of incorporation, the memorandum and articles of association, share certificates for the founding shareholders, and your statutory registers. Banks and landlords will ask for the certificate; the articles govern how the company runs.
Certificate of incorporation
The company's birth certificate: name, number, date and jurisdiction. Every bank, landlord and overseas registry asks for it. Replacements can be obtained at any time.
Memorandum of association
A short statutory document recording that the first shareholders agreed to form the company and take at least one share each. Fixed at incorporation and never amended.
Articles of association
The rulebook. Model articles by default. This is the document that decides what happens when shareholders disagree, so it is worth reading once rather than never.
Share certificates
Evidence of what each shareholder holds. Not filed anywhere — the company issues them and keeps the register of members, which is the actual legal proof of ownership.
Statutory registers
Members, directors, secretaries, people with significant control, and charges. The company must keep them, and it must keep them current — not once a year when a filing falls due.
Where to go next
Check a name first
Statutory rules, then the Companies House register. Free, and no email required.
Check a company name What it costs