The Free Accounts Data product launched today means the public will have access to statutory accounts in data format for the first time.The move is intended to open up financial data on companies and increase transparency,while making data analysis more efficient.

Business minister Michael Fallon said,"The UK is at the forefront of a data revolution.Today's free release of company accounts data by Companies House is an excellent example of how we are increasing access to data and transparency.

“Open company data can benefit everyone –whether it's entrepreneurs,taxpayers,businesses or the public sector.Better data efficiency encourages innovation,delivers better public services and stimulates growth through new revenue streams."

The announcement has been welcomed by the profession.

Dr Paul Booth,technical manager at ICAEW’s IT Faculty said,“With this development XBRL moves from being a regulatory burden to a useful tool for businesses.

“Whilst many businesses now file accounts online it has,up until now,not been possible to download and search a company’s accounts.In the past all that was available for finance professionals was an electronic image of paper accounts,for a fee,which required re-keying in order to do any analysis.We expect this development will also encourage further increase in the proportion of accounts that are filed digitally."

”At present Companies House is holding a lot of company accounts in digital form,but this is being ‘wasted’so long as users can only get hold of images.We expect that eventually (if not immediately)it will be possible to select a number of companies of interest according to the XBRL-tagged data in their accounts,and then to use the XBRL tags for analysis of the selected accounts,providing good information much more quickly and efficiently

“In addition this will be offered as a free service,which will lead to savings especially to organisations who buy company accounts in bulk,such as credit reference agencies.Another advantage would be by reducing the need for users of accounts to re-key;there will be fewer opportunities for human error.”

Yesterday,the prime minister announced proposals for a public register of company ownership as part of a bid to promote transparency.

In September,the Financial Reporting Council launched a project into improving the quality of electronic tagging of accounts,after securing funding from a number of bodies including Companies House.

The XBRL technology,which enables tagging to be done in a standardised way,came under the jurisdiction of the FRC earlier this year.The standard-setter will now take responsibility for setting the taxonomy and standards which will be updated to reflect the new financial reporting standards FRS 100,101and 102.

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