On 7 September, the government opened a consultation on what it’s calling a “once in a generation” overhaul of corporate reporting rules. The headline number is £450 million a year in savings for UK businesses — and if you run a limited company, some of that saving could land directly on your desk.
The trigger, according to ministers, is that annual reports and accounts for some companies now run to 98,000 words — longer than The Hobbit. The Department for Business and Trade says the current rules are “too complex and burdensome for every business, from multinational companies to the removals firm down the road.” The consultation closes on 30 November 2026, so there’s a window to understand what’s coming and, if it affects you, to have a say.
What’s actually on the table
Two changes stand out for smaller and mid-sized companies:
- Directors’ reports and strategic reports could be scrapped entirely for mid-sized companies, cutting a chunk of the paperwork that goes with every set of annual accounts.
- Audit exemption could be widened so that some medium-sized companies no longer have to pay for a statutory audit they currently can’t avoid.
On top of that, financial reporting, governance reporting and remuneration reporting are all up for being made “more proportionate” to company size, and electronic shareholder communication would become the default instead of the exception — another small but real admin saving for companies still posting paper notices.
What this means for you right now
Nothing changes today — this is a consultation, not law. But it’s worth acting on in two ways.
First, if audit costs or the burden of a directors’ report are a genuine pain point for your business, this is the moment to respond to the consultation. Trade bodies and accountants will be submitting views over the next 11 weeks, and individual SME voices carry weight precisely because they’re rarer in these processes than big-firm submissions.
Second, don’t restructure your reporting yet. It’s tempting to assume audit exemption is coming and start planning around it, but the scope of “medium-sized” and the final rules could shift significantly between now and any legislation. Keep your current filing obligations exactly as they are until something is confirmed — Companies House penalties for late or incomplete accounts don’t pause for consultations.
If your accounts and governance documents are already a patchwork of old templates from different advisers over the years, this is also a sensible moment to get them properly organised. A service like Smallprint can help you keep your legal and reporting templates current so that whichever way this consultation lands, you’re not scrambling to rebuild your paperwork from scratch. And if part of your admin burden comes from years of old filings, correspondence and statutory records sitting in inboxes and filing cabinets, Archive.Partners exists precisely to get that kind of business history properly archived and out of your daily workload.
The takeaway
This consultation is genuinely good news for smaller companies buried in reporting obligations designed for much bigger organisations — but it’s a proposal, not a reprieve. Keep filing on time under the current rules, flag the consultation to your accountant if audit costs bite, and consider putting in a response before 30 November if simpler reporting would make a real difference to how you run your business.
