There are usually two different filings of the annual accounts that need to be made - one to Companies House and one to HMRC.
Companies House
The accounts filed at Companies House are on public records for anyone to see. If the company has incurred income and costs then for most micro businesses they will usually be filed in an abbreviated format - larger companies will have to file more information though.
Also companies that are not classed as small enough will require an audit from a registered auditor - see here:
https://www.gov.uk/audit-exemptions-for-private-limited-companies
Another exception is if the company is seen to be "dormant" from Companies House perspective then dormant accounts can be filed instead.
Companies House definition of dormant accounts is that a company is dormant if it has had no "significant accounting transactions" in the period. A significant accounting transaction is one which should be entered in it's accounting records. So even if if you are incurring expenses but not making any sales yet, that would not be sufficient, you would not be able to file dormant accounts.
HMRC
Assuming a company has been trading for corporation tax purposes HMRC will require a set of full accounts, a corporation tax calculation and a corporation tax return (CT600) to be filed. These documents are not for public view.
To ascertain whether a company is trading for corporation tax purposes or not HMRC have issued this guidance here.
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