Have Abbreviated accounts been replaced with Abridged accounts?

No. 

Previously there were two options available to small companies for filing a reduced set of accounts to Companies House.  The first was to prepare accounts in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, section 444, choosing not to file a Directors Report and Profit and Loss Account and the second was to prepare abbreviated accounts.  In either case a full set of accounts would be produced for the members.

Most small companies took the option to produce abbreviated accounts as this also allowed reduced disclosure on the balance sheet that section 444 wouldn’t have provided. 

However, under the new Small Companies Regulations, the option to produce abbreviated accounts have been revoked.  Therefore, the option now for small companies to file a reduced set of accounts to Companies House is to take the exemption allowed under section 444 not to file a Directors Report and Profit and Loss Account.

The option to prepare abridged accounts is not just relevant to accounts filed with Companies House.  Where all the members consent to abridgment, that consent applies to the full set of account for the members.

Once the full accounts have been abridged in accordance with the Small Companies Regulations, the exemptions under section 444 can then be applied when filing to Companies House to exclude the Directors Report and Profit and Loss Account.

Legislation has NOT been set to only apply abridgment to the set of accounts delivered to the registrar (as abbreviated accounts would have previously been judged).