Perspectives · Company law and registers
What entity management is, and why it helps compliance
Entity management is the work of keeping an accurate, current record of every legal entity a business owns or runs: who the directors are, who owns it, where it is registered, what it must file and when. It sounds administrative, and it is. It is also where most company law obligations either get met or get missed. This perspective is general information, not legal advice.
Week 37, published 10 November 2026 · Company law and registers
The definition
One record per company, kept current
Every company in a group has its own legal identity and its own obligations. Each one has directors, a registered office, shareholders, people with significant control, a financial year end and a filing calendar. Entity management means holding those facts in one place, for every entity, and keeping them right as they change.
For a single trading company this is manageable in a folder. For an investment manager with funds, holding companies and special purpose vehicles across several countries, it is not. The number of facts grows with every entity, and so does the number of people who change them.
The obligations
Directors stay responsible even when others do the work
GOV.UK sets out that directors of a limited company must follow the articles of association, keep company records and report certain information, prepare and file accounts, and complete the Company Tax Return. It also says that directors can hire other people to manage these things day to day, but remain legally responsible for the company's records, accounts and performance.
That last point is the reason entity management matters. Delegating the work to an administrator or an accountant does not delegate the responsibility. The board needs to be able to see that the work is being done.
The deadlines
Changes have short clocks
Many company changes must be reported quickly. GOV.UK says Companies House must be told within 14 days of changes to directors, company secretaries or where company records are kept, within 15 days of a change to the articles, within a month of issuing more shares, and within 21 days for other changes.
Every company must also file a confirmation statement at least once a year, even when it is dormant and nothing has changed. Companies House guidance says that before confirming, the company must have reported changes to its directors, secretary, people with significant control, registered office and registered email address. A confirmation statement is only as good as the record behind it.
The link to compliance
Most misses start as a record problem
A late filing rarely starts with someone deciding not to file. It starts with a director who resigned and was not reported, an entity that nobody listed as in scope, or a deadline held in one person's calendar. When the record is complete, the obligations can be derived from it and checked against it. When it is not, compliance depends on memory.
A single record also makes questions from banks, auditors, investors and regulators faster to answer, because the answer is the same each time it is asked.
In Alethia
The entity record and the work that follows from it
Alethia keeps a record for each entity, with its officers, ownership, registrations and documents, and a compliance calendar of the filings that fall due. Filings can be exported to Outlook or Google Calendar.
For UK companies, Alethia can read the public record at Companies House so you can compare it with your own. Nothing from the registry is saved until a person confirms it.
Questions
Entity management, answered
Is entity management the same as company secretarial work?
They overlap. Company secretarial work is the set of tasks: minutes, filings, registers. Entity management is the record those tasks read from and write back to, kept for every entity in the group.
Does a dormant company still need managing?
Yes. Companies House guidance says every company, including dormant and non trading companies, must file a confirmation statement at least once a year.
If an administrator does the filings, are the directors covered?
Not on its own. GOV.UK says directors can hire others to manage these things but remain legally responsible for the company's records, accounts and performance.
Start with one record per entity
Bring every entity, officer and filing date into one place, so the calendar comes from the record rather than from memory.