Small companies will still not file a profit and loss account: the 23 October 2026 pause, and what the balance sheet still tells you
The government has paused the one reform that would have put small companies' turnover and profit on the public record. The balance sheet stays the window, and it says more than most readers take from it.
A reform that would have put small companies' turnover and profit on the public record was due in April 2028. On 23 October 2026 it was paused. For anyone who reads accounts to understand an owner, the window stays the same shape, and it is worth knowing exactly what can be seen through it.
In short
On 23 October 2026 Companies House announced that the government had paused the requirement, due from April 2028 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, for small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account. Small companies may still file abridged accounts and "fillet" out the profit and loss account, so their turnover and profit stay off the public record. The filed balance sheet remains the only public view.
Key takeaways
- Companies House's announcement of 23 October 2026 says the government "has decided to pause implementing the requirement for small companies and micro-entities to file profit and loss accounts with Companies House from April 2028".
- The pause has no end date: the government response of October 2026 says it will "provide further details about this in due course" while it explores joint filing with HMRC.
- For accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a company is small if it meets two of turnover up to £15 million, balance sheet total up to £7.5 million and no more than 50 employees, and a micro-entity at £1 million, £500,000 and 10 employees.
- Software-only filing in iXBRL is going ahead from April 2028, so the balance sheets that are filed will become machine-readable for every company, under the same announcement of 23 October 2026.
- A private company has nine months after its year end to file, as Companies House guidance read on 2 November 2026 states, so a filed balance sheet describes a position up to 21 months old by the time the next one lands.
What did the government announce on 23 October 2026?
Companies House published "Companies House update to accounts filing from April 2028" on 23 October 2026. The operative sentence reads: "Following the recommendations of the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce, the government has decided to pause implementing the requirement for small companies and micro-entities to file profit and loss accounts with Companies House from April 2028." It continues: "the government will continue to allow companies to file abridged accounts and retain the option for smaller companies to remove, or 'fillet', their profit and loss information from the accounts filed at Companies House after 1 April 2028."
The status of the 23 October 2026 pause, as at 2 November 2026, comes down to three points. The requirement paused had not yet taken effect, so nothing small companies file today changes. It is a pause, not a repeal: the government response to the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce, published the same day by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and HM Treasury, says the government considers "that there is enormous value in Companies House having access to P&L accounts for all companies" and has paused while it explores joining up Companies House and HMRC filing under its "tell government Once" ambition. And the rest of the April 2028 package stands.
| Measure | Position after 23 October 2026 | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Small and micro-entity profit and loss account filed at Companies House | Paused, no end date | Was due April 2028 |
| Filleted accounts (profit and loss omitted) | Kept | After 1 April 2028 as now |
| Abridged accounts | Kept | After 1 April 2028 as now |
| All accounts filed through commercial software in iXBRL; web and paper accounts filing closed | Going ahead | April 2028 |
| Strengthened audit exemption eligibility statement | Going ahead | April 2028 |
| Component parts of accounts filed together | Going ahead | April 2028 |
| Limit on shortening the accounting reference period | Going ahead | April 2028 |
The table lists every accounts measure in the announcement of 23 October 2026.
What do small companies file at Companies House?
A small company must prepare full accounts for its members, but section 444 of the Companies Act 2006 says the directors "must deliver" a copy of the balance sheet and "may also deliver" the profit and loss account and the directors' report. Companies House guidance read on 2 November 2026 says: "small companies and micro-entities can file those accounts omitting the profit and loss account." Four forms result.
| Filing option | Who may use it, as at 2 November 2026 | On the public record | Turnover visible | Cash visible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small full accounts, filed whole | Any small company | Balance sheet, notes, profit and loss account, usually directors' report | Yes | Yes |
| Filleted small accounts | Any small company | Balance sheet and notes; a statement that the profit and loss account is not delivered | No | Yes |
| Abridged accounts | A small company whose members all consent, each year | A balance sheet showing only the lettered and roman-numeral lines; any profit and loss account filed starts at gross profit | No | Yes |
| Micro-entity accounts | A company meeting two of the micro-entity tests | A balance sheet of eleven lines, with directors' advances and commitments at its foot | No, unless filed | No |
Abridgement is in paragraph 1A of Schedule 1 to SI 2008/409, which lets the directors combine turnover and costs into a single "Gross profit or loss" line, so even a filed abridged profit and loss account hides turnover. The micro-entity formats are in Section C of the same Schedule. Abridged and filleted can be combined, which, outside the micro-entity regime, is the most private form a small company can file as at 2 November 2026.
What does a small company's filed balance sheet show, and what does it not?
A non-micro small company's balance sheet follows Section B of Schedule 1 to SI 2008/409, which, as read on 2 November 2026, carries "Cash at bank and in hand" as its own line, debtors and creditors split between amounts due within and after one year, and capital and reserves divided into called-up share capital, share premium, revaluation reserve, other reserves and the "Profit and loss account" reserve. An abridged balance sheet keeps the cash line and the reserves lines, because they carry roman numerals, and loses the breakdown of debtors and creditors.
A micro-entity balance sheet, under Section C, has eleven lines in Format 1: called-up share capital not paid, fixed assets, current assets, prepayments, creditors within one year, net current assets, total assets less current liabilities, creditors after one year, provisions, accruals, and capital and reserves. Cash is folded into current assets and the reserves are one figure. Section 472(1A) of the Companies Act 2006 requires the directors' advances and guarantees, and financial commitments, at the foot of the balance sheet.
What none of the filleted, abridged or micro forms is required to show, as at 2 November 2026:
- turnover, gross margin or profit for the year;
- dividends paid, directors' pay or pension contributions;
- who owns the shares, which is on the register of people with significant control, in bands, not in the accounts;
- anything after the balance sheet date, up to nine months before filing, as at the deadline read on 2 November 2026.
What can a reader infer about the owner from the balance sheet?
What follows is reading guidance, not advice, and every inference needs the filing history and the PSC register beside it. The balance sheet describes the company's money, not the owner's; the owner's claim runs through the shareholding.
Net assets. Total assets less all liabilities, equal to capital and reserves. It is the book value of what the shareholders own, with property and investments often at cost. For a company the owner holds 75 per cent or more of, per the PSC band as at the latest filing, net assets is a book-value indicator of the owner's stake, not a valuation.
Cash at bank. Where shown, the most liquid line. A company holding cash well beyond its creditors due within one year has money the business does not obviously need; the routes by which such cash reaches the owner are a dividend, salary or, at the end, a members' voluntary liquidation.
The profit and loss account reserve. Accumulated realised profits not yet distributed. Section 830 of the Companies Act 2006 says a company "may only make a distribution out of profits available for the purpose", so this reserve is broadly the ceiling on distributions, since distributable profits are realised profits less realised losses and the reserve can hold unrealised amounts. The year-on-year change in the reserve is, broadly, profit after tax less dividends paid, which is the one place a filleted filing hints at profit.
Director's loans. Section 413 of the Companies Act 2006 requires the notes to show advances and credits the company has granted to its directors, with the amount, interest rate, main conditions and repayments. Money a director has lent to the company has no equivalent section and sits inside creditors, where it may or may not be broken out. An owner owed money by their own company can take it back as a loan repayment rather than a dividend.
A worked example, a composite naming no real company, shows the reading. The table gives two filleted balance sheets at 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2026.
| Line, composite company | 31 March 2025 | 31 March 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed assets | £180,000 | £170,000 |
| Cash at bank and in hand | £1,450,000 | £2,100,000 |
| Debtors | £320,000 | £290,000 |
| Creditors due within one year | (£410,000) | (£380,000) |
| Net assets | £1,540,000 | £2,180,000 |
| Called-up share capital | £100 | £100 |
| Profit and loss account reserve | £1,539,900 | £2,179,900 |
Read as at 31 March 2026, the composite company held £2,100,000 of cash against £380,000 of short-term creditors. Its reserve rose by £640,000 in the year to 31 March 2026, so retained profit after tax and dividends was about that sum. With a single PSC in the 75 per cent or more band at 31 March 2026, that owner's share of book value lay between about £1.6 million and £2.2 million, most of it in cash, on a filing that shows no turnover at all.
Why is most owner-managed wealth visible only through the balance sheet?
Most owner-managed wealth is visible only through the balance sheet because the profit and loss account is optional for every company under the small companies regime, and the small thresholds, as raised for periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, reach £15 million of turnover. A profitable owner-managed company that never raised outside equity has no funding round and no press, so its accounts are the public record of the owner's business wealth, and for most of them the accounts are a balance sheet.
The house's own holdings bear this out. Of the 3,588,536 electronically filed accounts for periods ending in calendar 2025 that the house held on 2 November 2026, including dormant companies' accounts, 1.8 per cent stated turnover and 3.2 per cent stated a profit, while 98.9 per cent stated net assets and 39.8 per cent stated cash. Accounts filed on paper, which include many full accounts that do show turnover, are largely absent, so the turnover share is understated.
| Electronically filed accounts held, periods ending in 2025, as at 2 November 2026 | Share stating the line |
|---|---|
| Net assets | 98.9 per cent |
| Cash at bank | 39.8 per cent |
| Profit or loss | 3.2 per cent |
| Turnover | 1.8 per cent |
The read-across to private wealth follows. The cash line and the reserve are the clearest public signals of accumulated, undistributed money in an owner's company, and the moment that money moves (a dividend, a sale, a members' voluntary liquidation) is the moment it becomes the owner's own. The balance sheet tells a reader where to look; a dated event tells them when. The MVL guide reads the second half, and the identity verification note covers the register's new verification line.
Frequently asked questions
Will small companies have to file profit and loss accounts?
Not for now. On 23 October 2026 the government paused the requirement, due from April 2028, for small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account at Companies House, and said it would give further details in due course. Small companies may keep filleting out the profit and loss account after 1 April 2028.
What are filleted accounts?
Filleted accounts are a small company's accounts filed without the profit and loss account and, usually, without the directors' report, which section 444 of the Companies Act 2006 allows. The balance sheet must state that the profit and loss account has not been delivered. As at 2 November 2026 the balance sheet and its notes remain on the public record.
What is the difference between abridged and filleted accounts?
Filleted accounts omit the profit and loss account from what is filed. Abridged accounts shorten the balance sheet to its lettered and roman-numeral lines, and any profit and loss account to a single gross profit line, and need the consent of all members each year under paragraph 1A of Schedule 1 to SI 2008/409. As at 2 November 2026 a small company may do both.
What are the micro-entity thresholds in 2026?
For accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a micro-entity meets at least two of: turnover up to £1 million, a balance sheet total up to £500,000, and no more than 10 employees on average. For periods beginning before 6 April 2025 the turnover and balance sheet tests were £632,000 and £316,000.
Can you see a company's turnover on Companies House?
Only where a filed profit and loss account shows it, and small companies need not file one. As at 2 November 2026, a filleted, abridged or micro-entity filing shows no turnover, and the pause of 23 October 2026 keeps it that way for the April 2028 reforms.
Method
The announcement, response and guidance were read on gov.uk, and the statute and SI 2008/409 on legislation.gov.uk, on 2 November 2026. The worked example is a composite, invented to show the reading, and names no real company. The house's declarations of solvency figures for October 2026 were measured on 2 November 2026 from filings at Companies House. The shares of accounts stating each line were measured on 2 November 2026 with measure-research-counts.ts over the electronically filed accounts the house held for periods ending in calendar 2025, dormant companies included; paper filings are largely absent, so the turnover share is understated. No individual is named and no figure is summed across companies.
Sources
All read on 2 November 2026.
- Companies House, Companies House update to accounts filing from April 2028, 23 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/companies-house-update-to-accounts-filing-from-april-2028.
- Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and HM Treasury, Government response to the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce report, 23 October 2026, recommendation 1a, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-small-business-regulatory-taskforce-report.
- Companies House, Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: outline transition plan for Companies House, updated 23 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house.
- Companies House, Filing your Companies House accounts (Preparing and filing Companies House accounts), updated 23 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/filing-your-companies-house-accounts/life-of-a-company-part-1-accounts.
- legislation.gov.uk, Companies Act 2006, sections 413, 444, 472 and 830, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/444.
- legislation.gov.uk, The Small Companies and Groups (Accounts and Directors' Report) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/409), Schedule 1, Part 1, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/409/schedule/1/part/1.
- Declarations of solvency (form LIQ01) filed at Companies House in October 2026, measured by Windfall Intelligence on 2 November 2026.
Winny is the house’s pen name. This page is written by Windfall Intelligence Ltd from the UK public record, every figure re-measured on the date it carries, and checked by a person before publication. How these pages are made. Corrections to hello@joinwindfall.com.
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