Profit and Loss Account Changes for UK Small Companies

From 1 April 2028, small companies and micro-entities in the UK will need to file a Profit and loss account with Companies House. This is a significant change for businesses that currently file reduced or filleted accounts without making profit and loss details publicly available. The reform is part of the wider Companies House accounts filing changes, designed to improve transparency, reduce economic crime, and modernise company reporting.

What is changing for the Profit and loss account?

Small companies and micro-entities will be required to file a Profit and loss account with Companies House from 1 April 2028. At present, many smaller UK companies can file accounts that exclude the profit and loss account from the public filing. This has often helped small businesses keep commercially sensitive information, such as turnover, gross profit, administrative costs, and profit margins, away from general public view.

The new rules do not simply change what companies prepare internally. They change what must be submitted as part of the Companies House filing process. For many small companies, this means three practical adjustments:

• preparing profit and loss information to a filing standard, not only for internal or tax purposes;
• understanding whether the company wants to use the publication opt-out;
• checking that the company’s accounts software and filing process will be ready before the new rules apply.

The government has confirmed that small companies and micro-entities will be able to opt out of having their filed profit and loss account published on the public register. This distinction is important. The opt-out affects publication, not the underlying filing requirement. Companies House, HMRC, and law enforcement bodies will still be able to access the information, but the option should help limit what appears on the public register.

For directors, the practical message is clear: the change is not only about producing an extra document. It is about making sure the company’s accounting records, software, year-end process, and filing decisions are ready before the new rules apply.

Why is Companies House changing small company accounts filing?

The reason for the change is that Companies House is moving from being mainly a recipient of company information to having a more active role in checking the quality and reliability of what is filed. For small company accounts, this means the information submitted will need to give a clearer picture of the company’s trading activity, not only its balance sheet position at the year end.

A Profit and loss account helps provide that clearer picture because it shows how the business performed during the financial year. While a balance sheet shows what the company owns and owes at a specific date, the profit and loss account shows income, costs, expenses, and profit or loss over the period.

This matters because a balance sheet alone can be limited. It may show cash, debtors, creditors, share capital, or retained profits, but it does not usually explain:

• whether the company traded actively during the year;
• how much income the business generated;
• what types of costs reduced its profit;
• whether the company made a profit or a loss for the period.

For Companies House, HMRC, and law enforcement bodies, this additional information may make it easier to identify inconsistencies or unusual filing patterns. For directors, it means the figures behind the accounts need to be accurate, properly supported, and consistent with Corporation Tax reporting.

The change should therefore be seen as part of a wider move towards more complete and reliable company information, rather than simply an extra filing formality.

Will the Profit and loss account be public?

This is one of the most important points for small businesses, especially those concerned about commercially sensitive information. The government has confirmed that small companies and micro-entities will be able to opt out of having their filed profit and loss account published on the public register.

In practice, this should help protect details such as turnover, margins, and annual profitability from being easily viewed by competitors, customers, suppliers, or other external users. The company will still need to prepare and submit the Profit and loss account correctly, but the opt-out is expected to limit what appears publicly.

This will be particularly relevant for owner-managed businesses, consultancies, agencies, property companies, specialist suppliers, and other companies where trading performance could reveal sensitive commercial information. For these businesses, the publication decision should become part of the year-end accounts review, rather than something considered only at the point of filing.

Companies should also wait for detailed operational guidance before assuming exactly how the opt-out will work in practice. Directors and accountants will need to understand the filing steps, software settings, and any confirmations required when submitting accounts.

How the 2028 changes affect small companies

The reform is likely to affect small companies in several practical ways. Many small businesses already prepare a profit and loss account internally for tax, management, or lender purposes. The difference is that this information will now become part of the Companies House filing process.

Another important change is that, from April 2028, Companies House has said that all UK registered companies will need to file annual accounts using commercial software in iXBRL format. This means the move to mandatory profit and loss filing will happen alongside a wider shift away from some existing filing routes. Small companies should therefore review not only what information they file, but also how they file it.

Area affected	Current position for many small companies	Expected position from 1 April 2028
Profit and loss account	Often excluded from Companies House public filing	Must be filed with Companies House
Public visibility	Profit and loss details often not visible	Opt-out from publication expected to be available
Filing method	Some companies still use simpler or web-based filing routes	Accounts filings must be made using commercial software in iXBRL format
Internal records	May be prepared mainly for HMRC and management	Must support Companies House filing requirements as well
Compliance focus	Balance sheet filing often receives most attention	Profit and loss accuracy becomes more visible to authorities

For small companies, this may require a more joined-up approach to bookkeeping, accounts preparation, Corporation Tax reporting, and Companies House filing. If the bookkeeping records are incomplete or inconsistent, the issue may become more visible at the accounts filing stage.

The software requirement is also likely to affect the planning process. Businesses should allow enough time to confirm that their accounts preparation and filing systems will support the new requirements, including iXBRL filing. This is particularly important where records are maintained across different systems, where year-end adjustments are made as part of the accounts preparation process, or where the company needs to coordinate with its accountant before filing.

A useful preparation exercise is to look at the current accounts process and ask whether it would still work under the new rules. For example:

• are sales, direct costs, payroll, overheads, director loans, and dividends recorded clearly during the year?
• does the company’s software support the reports needed for statutory accounts?
• are adjustments made only at year end, or are records reviewed regularly?
• is the information used for Companies House consistent with the information used for Corporation Tax?

These questions are practical, but they are also important. The 2028 changes make it more important to have a clear audit trail from bookkeeping records through to final accounts.

What directors should do before April 2028

Although April 2028 may feel distant, companies should start preparing early. Directors should check whether they currently rely on filing options that will change, and whether their accounting records are detailed enough to support a filed profit and loss account.

Bookkeeping should be reviewed throughout the year, not only at year end. Revenue, direct costs, payroll, overheads, director transactions, loans, dividends, accruals, and prepayments should be coded properly, as clean records will make filing easier and reduce the risk of late errors.

A useful way to prepare is to check whether the company is ready across the main areas affected by the 2028 changes:

• bookkeeping is updated regularly and not only after the year end;
• management accounts and statutory accounts use the same underlying data;
• Corporation Tax figures reconcile with the company accounts;
• accounting software, or the accountant’s software, will support iXBRL filing;
• the company has considered whether to opt out of public publication of the profit and loss account;
• directors understand what information may still be available to Companies House, HMRC, and law enforcement bodies.

This is also a good time to review annual accounts processes more broadly. WellTax supports UK companies with bookkeeping, year-end accounts, Corporation Tax compliance, and Companies House filings. Businesses preparing early can review their approach to annual accounts and identify what may need to change.

Further guidance may be issued before April 2028 on the filing process, software requirements, and publication opt-out. Companies should keep the official guidance under review and check their position before their first affected filing deadline.

Final thoughts

The mandatory Profit and loss account filing requirement is a significant reporting change for small UK companies and micro-entities. The publication opt-out may reduce commercial concerns, but it does not remove the need to prepare and file accurate profit and loss information.

The businesses best placed for the change will be those that maintain clean accounting records, use suitable software, and treat annual accounts as part of a wider compliance process. Preparing early should make the 2028 transition easier and reduce the risk of rushed filings, incorrect classifications, or inconsistent information across Companies House and HMRC submissions.

The change should therefore be treated as an opportunity to strengthen the accounts process, not only as an additional filing requirement. Companies that review their records early, understand the new visibility rules, and keep official guidance under review should be better prepared when the April 2028 rules take effect.

Written by Luca Marin, Partner, WellTax.