A complete record, and what 'At ceiling' means
Why a sole trader can be complete with no director, and how Adapt says a record cannot be improved.
A record is not good or bad. It is complete, incomplete, inaccurate, or at ceiling for the kind of business it describes.
The four verdicts
The card at the top right of a record shows one of these.
| Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Complete for (a limited company, say) | Every field that kind of business can have is held. |
| At ceiling for (a sole trader, say) | Adapt holds everything this kind of business publishes. It looked for the rest and found none exists. |
| Incomplete | Some fields are still to find. The card lists them, for example phone, email, website, director. |
| Inaccurate | Places disagree on a field. Each value stays on the record, labelled, until they agree. |
Why kinds of business differ
A limited company, an LLP or a PLC has a register entry and named directors. A sole trader or an ordinary partnership has neither. So a sole trader with a name, a website, a phone and an email is as complete as that business can be. Adapt does not count the missing director against it.
Where a company number has not been matched, the legal form is not confirmed, and the verdict says so.
What to do with each
- Complete or At ceiling: nothing to chase.
- Incomplete: press Enrich now on the record to look again. See Why a field on a record is empty.
- Inaccurate: read the disagreeing values before you use that field.
An example
Ecclesall Bookkeeping (a sample sole trader) shows "At ceiling for a sole trader". There is no officer register for her to appear in, so there is nothing more to add.