Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A's)

What are M&A's?

Every UK limited company must have a memorandum and articles of association under the Companies Act 2006, which must be delivered to Companies House when incorporating a company.

If you incorporate your company with us you can choose to use Companies House's standard (model) M&A's.

The M&A's are comprised of two parts:

The Memorandum 
The memorandum is a single-page document where the subscriber/s (the owners at the time of incorporation) agrees to become members of the company. The memorandum includes:

• the company name
• the subscriber/s
• having a share capital or not having a share capital

The Articles of Association 

Articles of association set out the rules that the officers must follow when running their companies. The document defines the responsibilities of the director/s and how control can be exerted within the organisation. 

Uploading your own custom M&A's

Companies may alter these documents to suit their own particular methods and procedures which they intend to adopt. However, the standard M&A's are fine to use as is. If you set up your company with us, there will be an option to upload your own M&A's. You can request a copy of the memorandum of association template from Customer Support to use as a guide.

Where can I find a copy of my M&A's?

A copy of your M&A's and other documents can be downloaded from your account. Click here for instructions.

Making changes to your M&A's

Any changes to the M&A's will need to:

• be agreed by all members (only if you have more than one director or shareholder)
• have the new M&A's written and sent to Companies House
• and you will need to create a resolution and send this within 15 days to Companies House

Depending on why you’re making the change you may also need to fill in one of the following:

• a statement of company objects if your company is changing the objects in its articles
• change of constitution by enactment if your change is because of a change in the law
• change of constitution by order of court or other authority if your change has been ordered