XBRL Company Accounts

The Companies House XML/XBRL Electronic Filing Service offers a means of transferring company accounts data electronically, providing a more efficient and faster method of filing for both presenter and Companies House.

It further acknowledges the receipt of the electronic data by notifying the presenter of whether the data has been accepted, rejected or is pending (i.e. awaiting action). The service also provides presenters with reasons why the company accounts data has been rejected where appropriate.

The following information, detailing the eAccounts processes, is intended primarily to assist potential software providers in developing the necessary company accounts interfaces.

The mechanism will enable electronic submission of Company Accounts information, providing customers with a more convenient way of complying with their statutory obligations under the Companies Act. Accounts information will be electronically formatted using the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) standard - this common standard will enable all accounts data to be examined, stored, and exchanged with other systems.

The data presented by customers will be, based on XBRL definitions contained within the UK GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and the Companies House taxonomies. All accounts information will be examined to ensure data integrity - the required validation will be performed by a Validator which will simply apply the rules defined in each Taxonomy and report any data that fails validation. An online version of this Validator is available from the link below.

Company Accounts data submitted using the XML/XBRL Electronic Filing Service will be made available as company accounts 'documents' to the existing Companies House search facilities. The existing paper based document submission will continue to operate in parallel with the XML/XBRL Electronic Filing Service, but a set of accounts need only be submitted via either method once only.

A Technical Interface Specification giving detailed information for software developers is available via email from mconnors@companieshouse.gov.uk.