Step 4 of the set up wizard will list all known Directors, Company Secretaries, Shareholders and PSCs/RLEs.

Companies House treat the records of all officers, PSCs and shareholders separately. Where possible Inform Direct will identify individuals and their roles within the company to link them together.

This allows for smart workflows that will keep all records consistent for each individual. Please note where names are inconsistent or dates of birth do not match; Inform Direct may not be able to determine that both records are for the same individual/corporate entity.  Please see more about merging records below.

If Inform Direct thinks any person has multiple roles within the company (e.g. a shareholder and a director) it will put them together with a blue line round them as in the below example. 

If this is incorrect, and they are in fact two different people who happen to have similar names you can separate them by clicking on the word 'Separate' next to the red broken chain symbol (see above).

If a scenario arises where Inform Direct has not been able to identify that the records relate to the same individual. you can merge records with the 'Merge with another record' button.  For more help please see How do I Merge with another record?

Note: You cannot merge corporate and individual records. For example if a Director has accidently been set up as a corporate shareholder at Companies House but they also have an individual director record these will be separate and cannot be merged.  Once imported this can be corrected, please see How Do I Change a Corporate Shareholder to be an Individual?

If Inform Direct thinks a person only has one capacity e.g. just a shareholder or a director they will appear with a purple line round them as in the first example below:

Mary BROWNALEE:

Mary owns shares in 1 class. She therefore has a standalone record as 'individual shareholder' in a purple outline. As Mary has no other roles in the company it is correct to show separately.

Edna BROWN:

Edna owns 2 classes of shares, so appears twice as 'individual shareholder'. These records are merged (as shown by the blue outline) to reflect that both shareholdings in the name of Edna belong to the same individual. Edna is not a director, secretary or PSC. 

Frank Michael Brown:

Frank is a director, PSC & owns shares in 1 class. The three roles have been merged and show within a blue outline to indicate that they relate to the same individual, this is correct.

The merging will also identify inconsistencies in the data. The grey area at the bottom of any merged records allows you to confirm the correct information going forward. In the example above, for Frank there are inconsistencies in:

• His name, it differs as a director, PSC & shareholder. The drop-down box in the grey section allows you to confirm which is correct.
• His nationality, which is recorded as a director (Dutch) and as a PSC (French). Again the drop-down appears.
• His residential address, which although similar contains a different postcode on each. The drop-down allows you to confirm which is correct. 

Where a correction to an inconsistency is deemed big enough, a submission will be made to Companies House to update the information. This will always be made clear to you at the end of the import and a red submit button will show. 

Note: If Inform Direct should have merged two or more records but they have not been automatically merged then you can (and should!) manually merge them. How do I Merge with another record?

You may find that once merged, there is a dropdown option available for one of the the individual's addresses, nationality or country of residence.  Why do I have a dropdown on a merged record?