Company size checker: is your company micro, small, medium or large?
Size checker
The checker runs in your browser and sends nothing to us. It applies the limits for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025 to a single year, so treat the answer as a first check, not a final classification.
The thresholds from 6 April 2025
A company falls into a size category when it meets at least two of the three limits. The limits rose for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, under the Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024. Employee limits did not change.
| Size | Turnover | Balance sheet total | Average employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity | £1 million or less | £500,000 or less | 10 or fewer |
| Small | £15 million or less | £7.5 million or less | 50 or fewer |
| Medium-sized | £54 million or less | £27 million or less | 250 or fewer |
| Large | Above the medium limits on two of the three measures |
Before 6 April 2025 the limits were £632,000 and £316,000 for micro-entities, £10.2 million and £5.1 million for small companies, and £36 million and £18 million for medium-sized companies.
How the measures are defined
Each limit uses a definition from the Companies Act 2006, and the balance sheet total needs the most care.
- Turnover is the company's turnover for the financial year. If the year is longer or shorter than 12 months, the limit is adjusted proportionately; the checker does the same by annualising your figure.
- Balance sheet total is the total of the assets shown on the balance sheet: fixed assets plus current assets, before deducting any liabilities. It is not net assets.
- Employees is the average number of persons employed in the year, worked out month by month.
The two-year rule
A company qualifies for a size in its first financial year if it meets the limits in that year. After that, it changes size only when it meets, or fails to meet, the limits in two consecutive financial years. A small company that has one large year stays small for that year.
For the first year under the new limits, the transitional provision lets a company assume the new thresholds also applied to its previous year. A company that was medium-sized under the old limits but small under the new ones can therefore be small straight away.
Who cannot use the small or micro regimes
Some companies are excluded whatever their size:
- Small and micro regimes: public companies, banks, insurers, e-money issuers, MiFID investment firms, UCITS management companies and members of an ineligible group (section 384).
- Micro-entity regime only: also charities, investment undertakings, financial holding undertakings, and companies that are parents preparing group accounts or are included in consolidated group accounts (section 384B).
- Medium-sized regime: public companies, firms authorised by the FCA or PRA, e-money issuers and members of an ineligible group (section 467).
What each size files at Companies House
Size decides how much a company must publish, not only how much it prepares. Today a micro-entity can deliver a balance sheet only, and a small company can choose not to deliver its profit and loss account and directors' report.
That is changing. Companies House says that from 1 April 2028 micro-entities and small companies will have to deliver a profit and loss account (with an option for micro-entities not to have it published), abridged accounts will no longer be allowed, and accounts will have to be filed with commercial software in iXBRL format.
The size categories show up clearly in real filings. Micro-entity accounts were the latest accounts of 1,674,362 active companies on 1 October 2026 (32.4%), against 6,231 medium-sized and 27,091 group accounts (UK companies by accounts type). To see which accounts a particular company files and its balance sheet over time, search the company.
Sources
- The Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024
- GOV.UK: Life of a company, annual requirements: accounts
- Companies Act 2006, section 382
- Companies Act 2006, section 384
- Companies Act 2006, section 384B
- Companies Act 2006, section 467
- GOV.UK: Company accounts guidance for micro-entities, small and dormant companies
FAQ
What are the micro-entity thresholds from April 2025?
For financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a company is a micro-entity if it meets at least two of these: turnover of £1 million or less, balance sheet total of £500,000 or less, and an average of 10 or fewer employees. The previous limits were £632,000 turnover and £316,000 balance sheet total; the employee limit is unchanged.
What is the balance sheet total for company size?
It is the total of all assets on the balance sheet, fixed and current, before any liabilities are deducted. A company with £400,000 of assets and £350,000 of creditors has a balance sheet total of £400,000, not £50,000. Using net assets instead of gross assets is a common mistake when people check whether they qualify as micro or small.
Do I need to meet all three conditions?
No. A company needs to meet any two of the three limits: turnover, balance sheet total and average employees. A company with £3 million turnover, £400,000 of assets and 8 employees is not a micro-entity on turnover, but it meets the other two micro limits, so it qualifies as micro, subject to the two-year rule after its first year.
When do the new thresholds apply?
They apply to financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, so a company with a 31 December year end uses them first for the year starting 1 January 2026. A transitional rule lets a company treat the new limits as if they had applied in the previous year when it applies the two-year rule, so the benefit is immediate.
Check any UK company in seconds. Register details and the latest balance sheet figures for 5.6 million companies, free. Full financial history since 2008 as a one-off pack or through the API.
Search companies