Companies House has announced the next package of changes under the Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which will impact how financial statements are filed in the UK, the content of these filings, and certain audit exemptions and accounting reference date provisions. These changes are part of the overall aims of the Act to promote transparency of financial information for UK companies and ensure consistency in the information that is published for every entity required to file accounts.
These changes will take effect on 1 April 2027, irrespective of the accounting period end of the company. There are steps that management can take now in order to prepare for the new requirements; each of these is discussed in turn below.
Filing financial statements
From 1 April 2027, all annual accounts will need to be filed using compliant software, in an iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format. This will allow the accounts to be both human and machine readable, and care will need to be taken to ensure iXBRL tags are correctly applied. Options to file paper sets of financial statements, or to use certain online systems, will no longer be available; such submissions risk being rejected, and could lead to late filing fees or other sanctions for directors.
The changes will impact all UK companies and LLPs, as well as charitable companies, Community Interest Companies (CICs) and eligible overseas entities with UK operations.
These provisions will mean significant change for many entities, and directors should start to consider the various options that will be available going forward, including whether to purchase software themselves or to engage a third-party agent to assist with preparation and/or submission of accounts in the applicable electronic format. Some entities are already filing their financial statements in this format, meaning these changes will have no impact.
However, these changes will extend the current digital filing options for those entities who currently cannot file in this format, such as charitable companies. The electronic filing will also extend to additional documents that may be required to be filed alongside the annual accounts, such as parental guarantees for entities taking the subsidiary audit exemption under s479A, or consolidated accounts of a higher parent where an entity is taking a consolidation exemption under s400 and 401 of the Companies Act 2006.
There will be no changes to the way other documents are filed at Companies House, such as Confirmation Statements and Appointment of Director forms.
Small & micro company filing options
Under current legislation, companies qualifying as small or micro can avail of reduced filing requirements, whereby they are exempt from filing their Directors’ Report, their Profit & Loss account and, where applicable, their audit report.
From 1 April 2027, these exemptions will no longer be available, meaning both micro and small entities will need to file their Profit & Loss account and audit report (unless they are audit exempt), and small entities will also need to file their Directors’ Report. This will result in more financial information on small and micro entities being available on the public register.
Changes to company size thresholds apply to periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, meaning they will take effect ahead of the new filing provisions. Read our Insights article on changes to company size thresholds for a detailed overview.
Other changes
Audit exemption provisions will not be changing under these provisions. However, the information that will need to be disclosed surrounding any available audit exemption provision will be enhanced, specifically stating any exemption that is being taken, and confirming the entity’s eligibility for such an exemption.
Under existing law, there are no restrictions on the number of times an entity can shorten its accounting reference period. This will be amended, to align with the current provisions around extending an accounting reference period, meaning that this can only be done once every five years, unless an appropriate business reason is provided.
More information on each of these areas will be released by Companies House over the coming months. To find out how we can assist you in navigating these changes, please contact Louise Kelly, Partner.
