Business Central 2026 Wave 1 — Release-wave highlights for UK SMBs
What Business Central 2026 release wave 1 brings UK finance teams: agents for payables and expenses, Copilot at no extra cost, partner access controls and everyday improvements.
Microsoft's 2026 release wave 1 plan for Business Central covers new features planned from April 2026 to September 2026. This post picks out the parts that matter most to UK finance teams.
Key PointRelease wave 1 covers features planned from April to September 2026. Not every feature reaches every environment on day one.
Agents arrive in finance
The headline theme is AI agents that work inside Business Central. Microsoft says agents support core finance processes such as payables and expenses, helping with document interpretation, categorisation and approval workflows.
The Payables Agent is the clearest example. It reads vendor invoices from a mailbox and prepares purchase invoice drafts for a person to review. Our article on the Expense Agent covers expenses.
Copilot for every user
The plan restates that Copilot comes with your Business Central licence at no extra cost, with features such as Chat and bank reconciliation assistance ready to use. Copilot and agents are available only to Business Central online customers.
Agents are different from the core Copilot features on cost: Microsoft's Payables Agent page says agents use Copilot Credits, which can incur charges. Our article on Copilot for finance covers what to expect.
Pro TipBefore you switch on an agent, check how Copilot Credits will be billed for your environment.
Administration and partner access
The governance changes are worth a look for anyone with more than one environment. Microsoft lists:
- assigning partner access to specific environments;
- customer-managed encryption keys;
- extended update windows, for more flexibility in scheduling upgrades;
- one place to manage per-tenant extensions and Marketplace apps.
Our guide to managing Business Central environments explains how partner access and update windows work today. The NCSC's supply chain security guidance is a useful frame for deciding which partners should have access.
Everyday improvements
- E-documents. The framework now supports more document types, such as shipments and transfer shipments, as well as e-invoices.
- Full-text search. Search on lists, drill-downs and look-ups focuses on relevant columns for faster results.
- Job queue. Jobs keep their order and gain a priority system within job queue categories.
- Power Platform. Power Automate templates help automate workflows, and Copilot Studio can build agents connected to Business Central.
Watch OutSome new features must be switched on by an administrator. Test them in a sandbox before production.
What to do with this
New features arrive with Microsoft's updates. The update cycles page explains when they reach your environment, and some features must be switched on by an administrator before users see them.
Microsoft has also said that release plans will no longer be published from September 2026. New capabilities move to its AI at Work roadmap instead.
For independent guidance on finance technology, see the ICAEW technology resources. To talk through what this release means for your own Business Central setup, start with our free Business Central review.