A filing validation error, as far as the SureFile Accounts service is concerned, is a condition that will prevent the accounts document from being accepted by HMRC's or the Irish Revenue's CT online service as part of a CT Return or by Companies House's Statutory Accounts filing service. Accounting rule errors will not prevent the accounts document from being accepted by HMRC or the Irish Revenue, but indicate fundamental issues with the accounts themselves that should be corrected.

The SureFile Accounts service distinguishes between "ordinary" filing validation errors and "fatal" errors - both will prevent successful filing to HMRC, the Irish Revenue and/or Companies House, but the latter category, due to their seriousness, may also have prevented us from successfully validating the rest of the document. You will see a comment to this effect if you encounter such errors when attempting to validate accounts. Addressing an error classed as 'fatal' may also automatically correct other errors or warnings reported after it. On the other hand, it may reveal further errors or warnings that were impossible to detect in the presence of the 'fatal' error.

When we detect multiple but different 'fatal' errors at exactly the same location in the accounts we suppress the second and subsequent occurrences on the grounds that they are highly likely to be caused by the same issue. However, if we detect a sequence of three or more identical errors (often a result of the same root cause) in separate locations we will "fold up" all but the first so that you are not distracted by them (especially if there are a lot of them). However, you can still examine them if you choose to (and they will appear in the printed output).