Companies House to bring in changes to accounts filing from April 2028: What every accountant needs to know now

From April 2028, every registered company in the UK must file its accounts via commercial software in iXBRL format. Web filing and paper filing for accounts will close permanently. Small companies and micro-entities will have to file profit and loss accounts for the first time.

The four changes that matter most for your practice

1. Software-only filing, mandatory iXBRL: From April 2028, accounts must be filed in iXBRL format using commercial accounts production software. The Companies House web filing portal and paper filing will close for accounts.The only compliant route is commercial software that generates iXBRL output and files directly with Companies House.

2. P&L filing for small companies and micro-entities: Small companies and micro-entities have historically filed balance-sheet-only accounts, keeping trading performance off the public register. From April 2028, the profit and loss account must be filed. However, companies can opt out of publication on the public register. The P&L will be filed and accessible to Companies House, HMRC, and law enforcement, but clients who don’t want their turnover and margins visible to competitors, customers, or suppliers can prevent it from appearing publicly.

3. Abridged accounts: gone. The option to file abridged accounts (balance sheet only, with minimal disclosure) is being removed entirely. Every company previously filing abridged will need to transition to full accounts production.

4. Accounts must be filed as a complete package: The component parts of the filed accounts (balance sheet, P&L, notes, directors’ report, auditor’s report where applicable) must all be filed together in a single submission. No more piecemeal filing of separate documents.

The timeline: more compressed than it looks

Companies House has given companies 21 months to prepare. This was a deliberate extension from the original April 2027 implementation date, granted after stakeholder feedback about readiness. The extended timeline is helpful, but it doesn’t mean there’s no urgency.

For a practice with 100 limited company clients, the preparation work includes:

• Auditing accounts production software to confirm iXBRL compatibility and Companies House filing capability

• Identifying every client currently filing abridged accounts and planning the transition to full accounts

• Communicating the P&L filing requirement to all limited company clients before April 2028

• Reviewing pricing for small company accounts work

• Updating engagement letters and terms of business to reflect the extended scope of accounts filing

Practices that treat this as a problem to solve in early 2028 will face every one of these tasks simultaneously, under deadline pressure, with clients who haven’t been warned. The practices that start now will have everything in place before the pressure arrives.

The iXBRL requirement: what it means for accounts production software

iXBRL is a machine-readable format that tags financial data within accounts and is already required for HMRC corporation tax filings. The change is that Companies House will now require the same format for accounts filing, and their web portal won’t be available as an alternative.

The critical check for practices is whether their current accounts production software files iXBRL to Companies House specifically, not just to HMRC. Some software packages that handle HMRC corporation tax iXBRL filing do not currently have a Companies House direct filing capability. April 2028 is the hard deadline for that gap to be closed — either through a software update or a platform change.

How do Inform Direct by Bright and BrightWorkpapers by Bright support the transition?

BrightWorkpapers by Bright handles accounts production with iXBRL tagging built into the platform, giving practices the accounts preparation capability, including full P&L production. For the practices managing the transition from abridged to full accounts production, BrightWorkpapers provides the production infrastructure without requiring a separate tool.

Inform Direct by Bright manages the Companies House statutory compliance layer, including confirmation statements, director changes, PSC updates, and from April 2028, the accounts filing workflow. All company secretarial work is completed from one platform for every limited company in the practice portfolio. For practices managing 50 or more limited companies, having statutory maintenance and accounts filing in the same connected platform is the operational efficiency that makes the transition manageable.

BrightWorkpapers and Inform Direct by Bright give accounting practices the iXBRL accounts production and Companies House filing capability to meet the April 2028 changes across every limited company client. Book a demo below to see how the workflow handles the transition.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.