Companies House announced this week that it would not be pushing for the introduction of mandatory electronic filing in the iXBRL format by March 2013.

An announcement on the registration and accounts agency’s website explained that because of the “because of the government’s absolute determination not to add new regulations that affect small business” it would not now be proceeding with legislation.

Instead of pushing for the mandatory approach, Companies House will focus its resoruces on improving digital services for business - including those who need help with electronic filing. Companies Hosue remains focused on being a fully electronic registry - and on using iXBRL as its primary filing format to tie in with HMRC’s efiling strategy.

A joint filing mechanism is already available, and Companies House is already equipped to accept iXBRL submissions from third party accounts production software packages and its own PDF-based online filing forms.

“Mandating electronic services is an issue which we will reconsider once the moratorium on new regulation for small businesses has ended in 2014,” the statement concluded.

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