XBRL Filings Amid Covid-19: Considerations for Your Upcoming Annual Filing!

The next filing period is soon approaching. With the Covid19 pandemic, this year has been a rough one; and maybe annual financial filings are not even on your list of top 10 priorities to do. However, no matter how dreadful the situation may seem, filing your annual financial statements with ACRA is mandatory. So the sooner you file your XBRL financial statements, the sooner you cross this mandatory requirement off your list.

Having said that, ACRA has laid down several revised filing requirements due to Covid-19, which is why business organisations and finance professionals alike need to remain up-to-date with these compliances. 

Keep These Things in Mind

In view of the current pandemic situation, ACRA is providing a one-off extension to give companies more time to adapt to the revised filing requirements and new data elements for filing of financial statements in the XBRL format. This is part of the continuous efforts to streamline the filing process of financial statements.

Revised XBRL Filing Requirements during Covid-19

There are significant changes made to the filing requirements and data elements. These changes are as follows:-

• Full XBRL Template

The number of data elements for the full XBRL template has been reduced by almost 50% to only 210 elements remaining. This will capture the information in primary financial statements and selected notes enclosed therewith.

• Simplified XBRL Template

The simplified XBRL template will replace the XBRL FSH (general) template and has around 120 data elements. This will capture the complete information concerning the financial performance and position of organisations.

• XBRL FSH (Banks) Template & XBRL FSH (Insurance) Template

There are minimal changes to these templates. These templates comprise around 80 data elements each.

Note: Insolvent exempt private companies will still be required to file more data elements.

For more information, visit the ACRA website.

Effective Implementation Date for Companies to File FS in XBRL Using Revised Requirements

• All eligible Singapore-based companies are required to apply these revised filing requirements and data elements on or after January 1, 2021.

• Companies are allowed an extension till May 1, 2021, to apply revised XBRL filing requirements and relevant data elements. 

• Companies may choose to voluntarily adopt revised XBRL filing requirements till April 30, 2021. 

Compliance is Key

Staying up-to-date with so many changing requirements can become very challenging very quickly. This is why having a reputable XBRL service partner like DataTracks can prove to be a game-changer. With prowess in XBRL and Singapore taxonomy, the team of finance professionals at DataTracks strives to stay up-to-date, so your company doesn’t miss critical compliance requirements. By helping you abide by every single filing requirement laid down by ACRA, DataTracks is the key to error-free XBRL filings for your company.

To learn more about their services, please speak to a DataTracks expert @ +65-3158-3654.