Under the Companies Act, every company must prepare a formal set of accounts once a year. Normally, these accounts are for a 12 month period ending on the official year end of the company as recorded at Companies House (known as the 'Accounting reference date' or ARD)
The accounts must be in a specified format (as set out in the Companies Act) and are submitted to Companies House to put on public record. They are also submitted to HMRC in support of the Corporation Tax calculations and Corporation Tax return.