Companies House Accounts Filing Shake-Up: What's Changing From April 2028

It's easy to file this one under "a problem for 2028" and move on. But the changes Companies House has just confirmed to how annual accounts are filed are big enough, and different enough from how most limited companies currently file, that getting ahead of them now will save a last-minute scramble later.

What's been confirmed

The reforms sit under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and were originally due to start on 1 April 2027. They've now been pushed back a year, to 1 April 2028, after Companies House spent extra time consulting with stakeholders. That delay is useful: it gives companies roughly 21 months' notice from the point of confirmation, which Companies House describes as "one full accounting year, plus nine months."

The headline changes are:

• Small companies and micro-entities will have to file a profit and loss account with Companies House. Many limited companies currently avoid this by filing abridged or "filleted" accounts, which leave turnover and profit figures off the public register. From April 2028, that option disappears.

• A limited opt-out exists, but it's narrower than it sounds. Companies will be able to opt out of having the P&L account published on the public register, but Companies House, HMRC and law enforcement will still be able to see it. Exactly how the opt-out will work in practice hasn't been confirmed yet.

• Abridged accounts are being removed entirely. All companies will need to file a fuller set of accounts than many are used to preparing.

• All accounts filings move to software only, in iXBRL format. Companies House's own web-filing service and paper filing will close for accounts, for every size of company, whether you file yourself or through an accountant. (Other filings, like confirmation statements, stay on the usual online services.)

• The audit exemption eligibility statement is being strengthened, and all the component parts of a company's accounts and reports will need to be filed together as one package, rather than piecemeal.

• Companies will be able to shorten their accounting reference period fewer times than at present.

• Separately, under the related Modernising Corporate Reporting reforms, the directors' report is expected to be scrapped for all companies, with medium and large companies still required to produce a strategic report.

Why this matters more than the 2028 date suggests

Two things make this worth acting on well before the deadline.

First, the transparency shift is real. A lot of small and micro companies have structured their filings for years specifically to keep profit and turnover out of public view. From April 2028, that changes. Competitors, suppliers, customers and prospective lenders will be able to see considerably more about a company's financial position than they can today. If that matters to how a business operates, it's worth thinking through now, not in the weeks before the switch.

Second, if a company (or its bookkeeper) is still filing accounts directly through the Companies House web portal or by paper, that route simply won't exist for accounts from 2028. Moving to compatible commercial software isn't difficult, but it's not instant either, and leaving it until the deadline year means doing it under pressure alongside everything else.

What to do now

There's no need to overhaul anything today, but a few sensible steps over the next year or so:

• Check whether your current accounts are filed through Companies House's web or paper service, or already via commercial software. If it's the former, start looking at iXBRL-compatible packages (Companies House publishes a list of compatible software).

• Think through, with your accountant, how much more financial detail is likely to become publicly visible under the new rules, and whether that changes anything about how the business is structured or reported.

• Keep half an eye on the opt-out mechanism for P&L publication as more detail is confirmed over the next year or two.

At Jackson Lee Accountants, we already file every client's accounts through commercial software in the required format, so none of our clients will be scrambling when the 2028 deadline arrives. If you're a Bury or Greater Manchester business owner who's not sure how your accounts are currently filed, or what this change means for you specifically, it's a good one to raise at your next review.

Need a hand with this? We're accountants in Bury, and our limited company accounts service covers it for a fixed fee.

Talk it through with us

If this affects you, book a free, no-obligation 30-minute chat by phone, Teams or at our Bury office, or see your fixed fee online in 2 minutes. Prefer to talk now? Call 0161 327 0047.