General Business

What is XBRL Filing

XBRL or eXtensible Business Reposting Language is referred to as a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data worldwide. XBRL is open-source software that enables the organization and management of financial data for research and analysis. It also facilitates the communication of financial information online and among businesses with significant accuracy and reliability.

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA) has adopted XBRL as part of its overall strategy to streamline financial reporting and to enable the flow of financial information into the international business community, and thus promoting a pro-enterprise environment. With this, corporate solutions provider like Rikvin offered Singapore XBRL filing services to make submissions easier for entrepreneurs.

All Singapore incorporated companies are required to submit financial statements in XBRL format. Below is a list of other types of companies that are allowed to continue to file financial statements in PDF format:

  • Companies limited by guarantee will be able to continue filing financial statements in PDF format as tabled at the Annual General Meeting;
  • Companies that are commercial banks, merchant banks, registered insurers and finance institutions as stated in the MAS Financial Institutions Directory;
  • All companies that are permitted by law to prepare in accordance with accounting standards other than Singapore or International Financial Reporting Standards.

There are two ways in preparing financial statements in XBRL.

  • Option A _Full XBRL – this option can be used if the company uses FS Manager to prepare the full set of financial statements for tabling at the Annual General Meeting (AGM); or FS Manager is used to prepare a full set of financial statements identical in content to the full set of financial statements tabled at the AGM.
  • Option B _Partial XBRL – this option can be used where a company must file a minimum of Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Comprehensive Income and information denoted by a red asterisk in FS Manager. If the company presents all items of income and expense in two statements, both Statement of Comprehensive Income and Income Statement must also be filed.