Another principal difference between partnerships and companies is the public
nature of a company's accounting requirements. Although these have been
substantially reduced in recent years in connection with small companies all
companies are still required to file accounts at Companies House each year. If
privacy is an issue to you, then a partnership structure still retains this
privacy since the accounts do not have to be published to any third party
(except of course the Revenue!). Although it is no longer necessary for full
audited accounts to be filed at Companies House and limited companies can get by
if they have the necessary skills in house without the assistance of an auditor,
in the vast majority of cases entrepreneurs who want to run their own business
do not want to spend their time undertaking administrative tasks which have
traditionally been seconded to professional advisers.