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A compliance health check produces findings — the specific issues discovered at each regulator — and recommendations — what Bumara suggests you do about each one. This page is about working through them.

Reading your findings

Each finding is one issue, at one regulator, for one period.

Severity

Accruing findings

A finding marked accruing has penalties or interest still growing. Two findings of the same size are not equally urgent if one is accruing and the other is fixed. Deal with accruing findings first, whatever their severity.

What kinds of issue are found

Unpaid income tax, VAT, withholding tax, turnover tax or PAYE. Property transfer tax. Accrued interest on tax debt. Penalties levied. Tax clearance certificate expired or never issued. Unfiled returns. Flags for audit or enforcement action.
Contribution arrears. Penalties assessed. Employees who should be registered but are not. Employer registration lapsed.
Annual returns filed late or not at all. Strike-off notice received. Restoration required. Director changes, share transfers or address changes never filed. Outstanding penalties. Missing compliance certificates.
Contribution arrears. Penalties assessed. Employer registration inactive.
Premium arrears. Outstanding levy assessments. Registration inactive.
Trading licence expired. Business levy arrears. Fire safety certificate expired. Council penalties outstanding.

Disputing a finding

1

Open the finding and choose Dispute

Only findings marked Confirmed can be disputed. A finding already under dispute cannot be disputed again.
2

State your case specifically

“Paid 14 March 2026, bank reference 4471, receipt attached” carries weight. “This is wrong” does not.
3

Attach your evidence

Receipt, bank statement, regulator acknowledgement — whatever supports your position.
4

Wait for the review

The finding is marked Disputed and the Dispute button is disabled while it is reviewed against the regulator’s records.

Recommendations

Every confirmed finding produces a recommendation. Related findings at the same regulator are bundled into one — you get a single “regularise your PACRA position” rather than one recommendation for the late return and another for the penalty it caused.

What each type means

What a recommendation shows

  • The type and the regulator
  • What Bumara suggests, in plain language
  • The original finding it came from, for context
  • Estimated days to resolve
  • Estimated cost, where one applies
  • A link to the relevant service, where one exists

Acting on a recommendation

1

Read the finding it came from

Every recommendation shows the original finding text. Understand the problem before choosing the fix.
2

Check the cost and the timeline

Estimated cost and estimated days are shown where known.
3

Choose Proceed, Defer or Dismiss

Described below.

Awaiting review

Some recommendations show Awaiting review rather than Proceed and Defer. These are serious enough — critical findings, audit flags, enforcement matters — that a Bumara manager reviews them before you can act. You will be notified when they are released.

In progress

Once Bumara has started work on a recommendation you accepted, it shows In progress. The service request or obligation it created appears in your normal compliance lists and is worked exactly like anything else.

Priority order

If you have many findings, work them in this order:
  1. Critical and accruing — the exposure is growing and the consequences are severe
  2. Critical — strike-off notices, suspensions, enforcement
  3. Warning and accruing — penalties still building
  4. Warning — arrears and late returns
  5. Info — note and move on
Strike-off notices and account suspensions are time-limited. A company struck off the register costs considerably more to restore than to keep. Deal with these first regardless of the amount involved.

After you have cleared them

Once you have worked through your findings, you can run a fresh health check. This creates a new assessment and marks the old one as superseded — but every past assessment is kept, so you can show a regulator, a bank or an investor how your compliance position has improved over time.
Related: Compliance health check for how the assessment is carried out and how the health score is calculated.
Last modified on August 4, 2026