2 December 2013 marks a milestone for financial reporting in Singapore. Singapore-incorporated companies which are either unlimited or limited by shares will move towards filing their financial statements in full XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format based on revised filing requirements. All XBRL financial statements will be submitted through ACRA’s new business financial information portal, BizFin, which will commence operations that day.
Enhancing the quality of financial information
The transition to full XBRL filing is a significant leap in boosting the quality of data provided in financial statements. With more companies filing in full XBRL, the proliferation of XBRL-enabled data means analysis of business data can be more efficiently generated and made available to business community. This in turn promotes greater transparency in the marketplace which is crucial for sustainable business growth.
The revised XBRL filing requirements include expanding the taxonomy used for filing, which increases the breadth and depth of financial data submitted to ACRA. A minimum required list has been introduced which incorporates approximately 350 data elements spanning statutory reports (for example, statement of directors), primary financial statements (for example, statement of financial position) and disclosure notes (for example, note – property, plant and equipment). The minimum requirement list is designed on a needs-driven basis, which means elements are only included if they are sought after by consumers of financial information. Within this list, onlu information that is present within the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) financial statements is required for submission in XBRL. It should be noted that while there are approximately 1,800 data elements in the full taxonomy, the minimum requirement list only includes standardized data deemed useful for analysis; the balanced approach hence ensures that the filing requirements will not be overly burdensome for the preparers.
Preparing Financial Statements in Full XBRL: Key Principles
To enhance data comparability, there is restriction on companies to add or define their own company-specific line item (including user-described elements), or creating their own relationships between line items. Companies however do have some flexibility in their presentation, with the ability to use their company-preferred labels and re-order line items within categories.
There are four general mapping principles for numerical values in the AGM financial statements:
- A line item within the AGM financial statements must be mapped to the relevant concept within the list when they are equivalent in accounting terms.
- Line items within the AGM financial statements that represent components of a relevant concept within the list must be aggregated together. A footnote must also be created to explain the aggregation that has been performed.
- When a line item within the AGM financial statements represents an aggregation of several concepts in the list, the breakdown must be disclosed as required in the list. Where it is impractical or the breakdown is not disclosed within the AGM financial statements, the preparer must map the entire amount to one of the concepts that was made up to the line item based on the best-fit principle.
- Line item that does not have any linkage with any concept within the list shall be classified under “others” category in the respective sections of the financial statements. A Footnote shall also be created to explain the breakdown of what has been classified under “Others”.
Mapping using detailed information elements is necessary for data extraction and analytics. Companies are also required to submit a complete full set of financial statements in XBRL, through the use of single text block “disclosure of complete set of financial statements”. While information within this text block cannot be extracted easily for purposes of analytics, the text block element allows retention of companies’ presentation layout.
Now, with full XBRL reporting kicking off from 2nd December 2013 onwards, more companies are requiring assistance on this matter. Are you one of them? Well, if that is you who require third party specialist to prepare your financial report in full XBRL format and perform the necessary XBRL filing, J Accounting Services in Singapore will be able to assist you on this matter. Contact J Accounting Services today and request for professional help in this area of full XBRL reporting in Singapore.
