This release introduces Group Audit & Consolidation to BrightWorkpapers, alongside a set of smaller feature additions and reliability improvements across the UK, Ireland/EU and Australia.

When creating a new engagement file, you can now choose a Group Audit template, which restricts the Client Name field to clients set up with an Ultimate Parent relationship, since a group audit must be created against the top-level client. Template selection now comes before client selection throughout the file creation process, and each relevant template appears as both a standard Audit and a Group Audit option, so you can pick the correct type for the file you're setting up. An on-screen message explains the group-specific behaviour, with a link to guidance on setting up a group.
Tags: All regions

Group Audit engagement files now show dedicated Consolidation Breakdown and Trial Balance pages in place of the standard General Ledger and Import views, with figures broken down by subsidiary and a Consolidate action instead of the usual Import option. You can tick Group by Transaction to trace how individual entries from group entities have rolled up into the consolidated ledger. Regular (non-group) audit files are unaffected and continue to work exactly as before.
Tags: All regions, Group Audit files only

Clicking Consolidate on a Group Audit file now asks you to confirm before the job begins, then runs in the background so you don't need to keep the page open while it completes — the Trial Balance and Consolidation Breakdown pages show a status message in the meantime. Only subsidiary files of type Audit are included in the calculation, so other file types linked to the same subsidiary won't affect your consolidated figures, and if a subsidiary has more than one Audit file with a trial balance for the same reporting period, those files are excluded and flagged to you. Once the job finishes, you'll receive an email confirming how many entities were consolidated out of the group total, with a breakdown of anything excluded and why, and the consolidation is recorded in your Activity Feed for a clear audit trail.
Tags: All regions, Group Audit files only

Excel Connect now recognises defined names starting with BWP. as well as the existing MWP. prefix, so you can build and manage Excel Connect workbooks using the new BrightWorkpapers naming convention whenever you're ready. Existing MWP-based configurations, saved workbooks, and defined names continue to work exactly as before, so nothing needs to change unless you choose to.
Tags: All regions

Procedures set up with 'Tick to hide response' in Program building blocks now display as header rows without sign-off or comment fields, with those fields shown on the sub-procedures beneath them instead. These header rows are excluded from workpaper completion statistics, while the sub-procedures beneath them continue to be counted individually as normal. This behaviour already existed for Checklist building blocks and is now available for Programs too.
Tags: All regions

You can now edit a review point directly from where it appears in a workpaper or the workpaper index, using a modal opened via a pencil icon shown on hover, instead of scrolling to the review point section at the bottom of the page. Changes save immediately and stay in sync with the bottom-of-page review point list, and existing review point permissions are respected throughout.
Tags: All regions

You can now submit more than one zip export request at a time — each is processed in turn in the background, so you're free to carry on working or navigate away while your file is prepared. You'll see a message confirming your file is being prepared, and you'll receive an email with a download link as soon as each export is ready.
Tags: All regions

AU firms can now access Template Resources directly from the Help menu when working within a file, giving you guidance specific to the template you're using rather than generic example documents. This brings the AU guidance experience in line with what has been available in the UK.
Tags: Australia

When you choose to switch back to Classic view from the new BrightWorkpapers look, you're now asked to tell us why before the switch takes place — either that it's a preference or that you've encountered a specific issue, with a short note either way. If you close the prompt without submitting a reason, you'll remain on the new BrightWorkpapers view.
Tags: All regions

For firms using the BGL360 integration in Australia, reimporting from the client panel now completes without an unexpected error when the linked BGL360 account has no funds assigned to it.
Tags: Australia

When saving a chart of accounts mapping on UK files, if required information is missing you will now see a clear message explaining the record could not be saved, rather than an unexpected error.
Tags: UK

Supporting documents uploaded through Prophet-based content templates now show the correct file type icon when a new file is created from a template, when workpapers are copied between templates, or when a workpaper is copied from a template into a file.
Tags: All regions

On EU platform domains, files now display the Euro symbol (€) by default instead of Pounds Sterling, with Irish locale formatting applied correctly throughout. UK and Australian currency display is unchanged.
Tags: Ireland/EU

Symlink workpapers included in your firm templates can now be selected and included when rolling forward a file — including via Select all — and when using Copy workpapers from another file in the Working Paper Index. Symlink workpapers from prior year files created using industry templates are also now selectable when copying workpapers between files.
Tags: UK

Creating a new monthly or quarterly file from the Period Workpaper File section of a Year End or Exempt file now completes successfully.
Tags: All regions

When sharing workpapers between files in an audit group, selecting a folder to quickly bulk-select its contents now shares only the individual workpapers inside it, rather than adding the folder itself as an extra entry in the receiving file.
Tags: All regions

Print preview and zip export have been made more robust, reducing the chance of encountering an unexpected error during these actions.
Tags: Australia

For SMSF external firm notification emails, if a link can't identify the specific fund it relates to, or points to a fund reference that isn't valid or doesn't belong to your firm, you're now taken safely to the general dashboard rather than a blank page or an error message.
Tags: Australia

The default marketing banner shown on your dashboard when no custom banner has been set now displays updated Bright branding. If your firm has set its own custom banner, it continues to display exactly as before.
Tags: All regions

In Updated View, opening, saving, or closing the review point pop-up on a checklist workpaper no longer returns you to the top of the page, so you can continue working through long checklists without losing your place.
Tags: All regions

Word documents originating from SharePoint document libraries can now be edited in Office Online and have their changes saved and retained when the document is closed.
Tags: UK, Australia

The Assigned To filter now correctly shows its own selected value, even after you've applied the Completion Progress filter. The data stored against the Assigned To field itself was unaffected throughout.
Tags: All regions

The option to add a user as an external firm, along with the related link to the external firm's portal, is now available only for firms on the Australian domain — including in Classic view. This keeps sign-in working smoothly for firms outside Australia, and AU firms will see no change to this functionality.
Tags: UK, Ireland/EU

In the SMSF External Firm portal, the automatic query prompting a reply to a document upload notification now generates only once per file and will not reappear on later uploads while it remains unresolved.
Tags: Australia

The Working Paper Index page now loads correctly in a scenario that could previously produce an error for certain files.
Tags: UK

In-app help links, including the link to Example documents and the CSV Trial Balance import guidance, now take you to the correct support articles.
Tags: All regions

General Ledger entries imported via CSV, Xero, or Bright now store figures to the exact source value, so your General Ledger and generated Trial Balance figures reconcile precisely.