Companies House accounts reforms – date confirmed
Companies House has confirmed the planned accounts reforms, including online filing under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) will now be effective from 1 April 2028.
While the changes had originally been expected from April 2027, this delay will provide additional time for businesses and technology providers to prepare.
There has been a delay and minor easements to the requirements, the direction of travel remains unchanged, with a clear move towards a fully digital, software-based filing environment for all sizes of business in order to improve the quality and transparency of information on the public record.
Key accounts reforms from 1 April 2028
- Software-only filing.
- Profit and loss account filing for smaller entities.
- Removal of abridged accounts filing option.
- Stronger eligibility statement for all companies claiming audit exemption.
- Requiring all parts of the accounts and annual report to be filed together.
- Reducing the number of times a company can shorten its accounting reference period.
All annual accounts filing will be required to be in iXBRL through commercial software, replacing web and paper routes. One of the key challenges with using iXBRL filing will be ensuring the digital version of the accounts is rendered on screen consistently with the signed statutory accounts, and that there are no changes between the signed version and the digital version. Therefore, whilst it is only commercial tagging / filing software that will be required, more businesses may make the move to outsource their accounts production and filing or acquire a professional accounts production and filing system.
Small and micro entities will need to file profit and loss accounts. However, the latest version of the reforms published in June 2026 include two easements from the initial proposals. Whilst small and micro entities will need to file their profit and loss accounts, they may opt out of the public disclosure. The proposal to require the directors report to be filed for small companies will be removed.
Contact us
If you would like further information about how the Companies House reforms might impact your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Trish Sankey or your usual RSM contact.