24/06/2026

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: changes affecting company accounts

Through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, the government is reforming the information reported by companies when filing their annual accounts with Companies House. Companies House have recently announced details of the changes, which will be implemented for filing dates from 1 April 2028. The reforms aim to ensure that the companies register is more reliable and accurate and focus on what information is filed at Companies House, rather than the underlying obligations for companies to prepare accounts.

The changes are:

Small companies and micro entities are currently only required to file a balance sheet with Companies House but will now need to file a profit and loss account as well. However, Companies House are to provide an option for small companies and micro entities to opt out of publishing this information on the public register. While the information available in the public domain will be unchanged, by requiring a profit and loss account to be filed Companies House will be able to determine a company’s size and eligibility to utilise small company and micro entity exemptions.
In addition, all companies will need to file their annual accounts using commercial software (in iXBRL format), although, where possible, we already do this as a matter of course for all our clients companies.
There will no longer be an option to file abridged accounts. This option was not commonly used, so we don’t anticipate that it will affect many companies.
Companies House will now require a strengthened eligibility statement for all companies which are claiming an audit exemption. An additional statement will be required when a company seeks to rely on an audit exemption (for example, dormant companies). The statement will require the directors to identify the exemption being relied on and to confirm that the company qualifies for the exemption. This additional statement aims to ensure that audit exemption is only claimed in valid circumstances.
Finally, Companies House are reducing the number of times a company can shorten its accounting reference period. While a company can currently only lengthen its accounting reference period once every five years, the option for shortening is currently unlimited.

A company qualifies as small if it meets any two of the following:

A turnover of £15 million or less
A balance sheet total (fixed assets and current assets) of £7.5 million or less
50 employees or less

Micro-entities are very small companies. Micro-entities can prepare simpler accounts that meet statutory minimum requirements and have simpler accounting requirements.