Accounts filing is changing – what charitable companies need to know

Under reforms introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, all UK companies will have to file their accounts with Companies House using commercial software from 1 April 2028. Accounts will need to be submitted in Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or iXBRL, which embeds machine-readable tags within the accounts. Companies House's web and paper filing routes will close for accounts, although they will continue to be available for other statutory filings.

This matters for charitable companies, because many currently file their full charity accounts by sending a copy to Companies House, often prepared in Word or another accounts-production system. From April 2028, that will no longer be possible. Join our 2027 Charity Conference to hear about the changes from Companies House’s Claire Jenkins.

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iXBRL allows information in accounts to be read both by people and by machines, and individual data points can be identified and analysed electronically. Companies House says software filing should improve the quality of financial data on the register, make information easier to aggregate and compare, reduce errors and provide faster and more secure submission and acknowledgement.

The timetable has already changed once. Software-only filing was originally expected from April 2027 but, following further engagement, implementation was pushed back to 1 April 2028.

In principle, iXBRL is not new. It has been used for Corporation Tax filing for many years, but charity accounts can be complex. Accounts prepared under the Charities SORP include charity-specific concepts such as restricted and unrestricted funds, the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA), fund movements and a range of charity-specific disclosures. That makes the ability of software to use the appropriate charity taxonomy, and to tag the accounts correctly, particularly important. With the introduction of the new Charities SORP in 2026, charities will need software that can support the changes in financial reporting.

Companies House provides a software finder, but does not endorse particular providers. There is currently no clear path to finding free or low-cost software suitable for charity accounts. It’s important for trustees of charitable companies to prepare ahead of time, for example by checking whether their software can support iXBRL filing and allowing sufficient time for tagging, validation and resolving errors. Companies House has been urged by sector voices to work with software providers on appropriate solutions for accounts prepared under the Charities SORP 2026.

Better structured financial information could make charity accounts easier to analyse and compare and make filing faster and more reliable. The question is whether the systems available by April 2028 will deal properly with the particular features of charity accounts without creating disproportionate cost, technical complexity or reliance on specialist advisers, especially for smaller charitable companies.

There is still time, but charities should not leave the issue until their first post-April 2028 filing deadline.

Finance teams and trustees may want to:

• identify their current filing route, including whether the charity itself or its external accountant currently submits accounts to Companies House;
• speak to their accounts-production software provider or accountant and ask specifically about SORP accounts, the relevant charity taxonomy and Companies House iXBRL submission;
• test the process ahead of the deadline where a suitable solution is available, including tagging, validation and dealing with errors;
• consider the cost and resource implications, particularly if accounts are currently produced internally using Word or Excel; and
• keep developments under review, as software products and Companies House guidance continue to evolve.

There will be an opportunity to put these issues into context at our Charity Conference 2027.

On 21 January 2027, Claire Jenkins, Senior Policy Adviser at Companies House, will explain how the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is reshaping the regulatory landscape for charitable companies, including the move to digital accounts filing in April 2028.

She will also outline how Companies House and charity regulators are working together to support charities through the transition, and what charities can do to get ready.