First-year accounts for limited company in Sandwich

First-year accounts for new Sandwich companies

Your first accounts normally cover a little over twelve months, running from the day you incorporated to your accounting reference date, and the period can never be longer than 18 months. For most companies the first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation. You must also register for Corporation Tax within three months of starting to trade.

First company accounts for Sandwich businesses: local facts

Sandwich is in the Dover council area, in the South East region. ONS figures for 2026 count 3,710 VAT- or PAYE-registered businesses in Dover, and 3,315 of them (89%) employ fewer than ten people. Many are small enough to use the micro-entity regime.

The largest groups of micro businesses in Dover are construction (635), professional, scientific and technical services (505) and wholesale and retail (475). For construction companies in Sandwich, Construction Industry Scheme deductions, retentions and stage payments can distort profit, so we reconcile your CIS statements before the accounts are prepared. That puts construction at 19% of the local micro-business base.

Zooming in, the ONS neighbourhood area around Sandwich (Dover 002) has 550 VAT- or PAYE-registered businesses, and 470 of them (85%) are micro businesses.

Dover ranks 984 of the 1105 areas we serve by number of micro businesses, and its micro share of 89% is in line with the 89% average across them. In professional, scientific and technical services (505 micro businesses in Dover), fee income, work in progress at the year end and how directors are paid are the key decisions, so we plan these with you before the accounts are finalised. In wholesale and retail (475 micro businesses in Dover), closing stock and the VAT treatment of different product lines are the usual pressure points, so we value stock carefully and check your VAT records.