Small and micro companies will be able to keep filing filleted and abridged accounts at Companies House from April 2028, after the government paused the requirement to file profit and loss accounts.
Lord Leung, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Small Business and Enterprise, has today announced changes to how the accounts reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCT) Act 2023 will be put into practice. Lord Leung is the keynote speaker at the Bookkeepers Summit on 16 November.
Under the original plans, small companies and micro entities would have had to file a profit and loss account with Companies House from April 2028, making their turnover and profit publicly available for the first time. That requirement has now been paused. The decision follows recommendations from the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce and lobbying from several small business bodies, including ICB.
For bookkeepers and their clients, this means small and micro companies can continue to file filleted or abridged accounts, without a profit and loss account, after April 2028.
The other changes planned for April 2028 are going ahead. Companies House remains committed to moving to software-only filing for accounts, along with the other technical changes it has set out. Bookkeepers who prepare or file accounts for clients should continue planning for this, including checking that the software they use will support it.
During the pause, the government will look at ways to streamline filing between Companies House and HMRC, as part of its "tell government once" ambition. Companies House has acknowledged that the change may cause some uncertainty, but says the pause gives it the opportunity to meet its economic crime commitments while reducing the burden on businesses and improving the filing process.
Garry Carter, Head of Professional Standards at ICB, said: "ICB supports much of what the ECCT Act sets out to achieve, and we have no objection to Companies House seeing a small company's profit and loss figures. Our concern has always been with putting those figures on the public record. For many small businesses, the company's profit is effectively the owner's income, and publishing it amounts to a snoopers' charter. It would also hand competitors, larger rivals and customers a detailed view of a small firm's margins, which is simply anti-competitive. We're pleased the government has listened. However, bookkeepers shouldn’t lose sight of the move to software-only filing, which is still planned for April 2028, so now is a good time to make sure your clients are ready."
More information:
Read the written ministerial statement by Lord Leung
Read the government's response to the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce report