What statutory accounts software does, the desktop versus cloud split, the features worth insisting on, and where Active fits for UK accounting firms.

Why firms run workpapers in Excel, where that breaks at scale, and how workpaper automation software keeps the flexibility without the version-control mess.

Statutory reporting is now live in Active. You can produce UK accounts across FRS 102, FRS 102 1A, 105 & Dormant Company Accounts, plus Sole Trader, Partnership and LLP accounts, all in one place. This quarter also brings side by side accounts editing, the Opening Balance Wizard, the Intelligent Note Engine, Intra-Period Rollovers and Xero Transaction Links, each aimed at the routine jobs that slow year end down.

Most practice owners cannot say with any confidence where the firm's time actually goes each week. Active Data changes that. It turns the work already happening inside Active into a live view of who is working on which clients, where jobs are slowing down, and what your own numbers are telling you, with nothing extra to log.

Qualifying for FRS 105 and it being the right answer are two different things. This post walks through the three size tests a company must meet, the exclusions that rule a client out regardless of size, and the cases where FRS 102 Section 1A is the better call, including where a growing company sitting just inside the limits is heading for a transition cost either way.

Most explanations of FRS 102 are written for company directors deciding what their own business must file. This one is written for the practice. It sets out what FRS 102 is and who it applies to, the size thresholds that decide which tier a client falls under, what the periodic review changed, and the disclosure errors that cluster in transition years — the detail that actually determines whether a set of accounts is right.