Outsource XBRL Filing & Tackle Your Compliance Satisfactorily

ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) is a strict but just governing agency in Singapore. It has ordered that all incorporated companies registered in Singapore must resort to XBRL filing for submitting their full set of financial statements. The mandate applies to the companies that are unlimited or limited by shares unless they are exempted by the authorities.

What is XBRL Filing?

The ACRA's mandate came into effect on 3 March 2014 and clearly mentions that the XBRL filing must be as per the revised filing requirements. ACRA has provided the companies with BizFinx, web portal, for the filing purpose. The agency has also provided the XBRL preparation tool on this portal. It has been a quite a while since the implementation of the mandate but still newly registered Singapore companies need to get acquainted with it.

XBRL is an acronym for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. The purpose of using it for the filing of financial data is to make the data easily accessible and retrievable in a structured manner. The financial data accumulated by the ACRA as well as the other governing bodies all over the world represents a very valuable source.

The data needs to be made available to the Auditors, Regulators, Financial Analysts and the organizations that are interested in studying economic factors. These professionals can use the data to predict the market trends and to forecast the changes in economies.

XBRL filing assists ACRA in delivering value-added financial data to the experts. It also helps in formulating a worthwhile response to the market trends by making changes to the regulatory environment. It is expected to improve transparency and dissemination of financial information in a realistic time-frame to improve its usefulness.

XBRL Filing Requirements for Different Types of Companies

Following table details the filing requirements set by ACRA for the different companies.

Type of Company

Filing of Financial Statements

Public / Private companies (limited/unlimited by shares), except those under

(a) and (b)

Full set of XBRL financial statements

specific companies regulated by MAS, i.e. commercial banks, merchant banks, licensed insurers, finance companies regulated by MAS

(Note: Only the above-specified types of companies regulated by MAS are exempted from filing of a full set of XBRL financial statements. Other types of companies regulated by MAS, e.g. money changers, are required to file a full set of XBRL financial statements.)

Financial statements highlights (FSH) in XBRL format + PDF copy of financial statements

companies allowed by law to prepare accounts in accordance with accounting standards other than SFRS, SFRS for Small Entities and IFRS

FSH in XBRL format + PDF copy of financial statements

Solvent exempt private companies (EPCs)

Exempted from filing financial statements, but are encouraged to file with following options:

• full set of XBRL financial statements or

• FSH in XBRL format

Insolvent EPCs

Options of:

• full set of XBRL financial statements; or

• FSH in XBRL format + PDF copy of financial statements

Companies limited by guarantee

PDF copy of financial statements

(XBRL filing not required)

Foreign companies and their local branches

PDF copy of financial statements

(XBRL filing not required)

(Source: ACRA)

How to Do XBRL Filing?

The best recourse for the Singapore companies, both, existing and start-ups in dealing with the XBRL filing requirements in place is to appoint an accounting services like SBS Consulting. The experts in such services use latest software tools to accomplish the task. By paying affordable XBRL filing fees, the companies can ensure their statutory compliance in the most satisfactory manner.

Of course, they have the option of doing the task on their own by visiting the ACRA portal BizFinx. ACRA has made the directors of the companies responsible for the annual filing of their company's financial statements. That is why they must keep in mind that it is an important task and any mistakes in the filing are not tolerated by the officials. They can be summoned for an explanation and may face fines and/ or more.

SBS Consulting is one of the leading corporate services provider in Singapore. It specializes in Company Incorporation, Accounting, Preparation of director's report, Taxation, GST, Payroll, XBRL, IT software development and maintenance, etc.