Recently passed legislation (The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act) meaning that there will soon be a requirement for small companies (including micro-entities) to file a profit and loss account to companies house which will be available in the public domain.
A small company is defined as meeting any two of the following criteria:
Turnover of over £10.2m or less,
£5.1m or less on its balance sheet, or
Having 50 employees or fewer.
A micro-entity, is defined as meeting any two of the following criteria:
Turnover of £632,000 or less,
£316,000 or less on its balance sheet, or
10 employees or fewer.
It is with noting that these new reporting requirements have only just been passed as a bill in parliament and there currently no indication on when the new rules will take effect and made enforceable practice by Companies House.
In addition it is not currently public knowledge as to the extent of the information that the new profit and loss reporting will need to contain.
With the main reason for the change in the rules being to combat fraud and terrorism, the accountancy profession is fairly divided as to the benefit of the introduction of new reporting requirements. This may lead to a lengthy consultation process between government departments and accountancy professional bodies meaning the implementation of the new rules could be some time off, however, significant changes will be coming in the foreseeable future.