ACRA has issued Practice Direction No. 2 of 2020 (PDF, 486KB) to guide companies on the revised requirements and data elements for the filing of financial statements in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format. The revisions are part of our continual efforts to streamline filing requirements. For most companies, the number of data elements that they need to file with ACRA will be reduced. This follows our earlier announcement on 9 March 2020.
Timeline for implementation of revised XBRL filing requirements
To allow companies more transition time in view of the COVID-19 situation, ACRA is deferring the effective dates as follows:
- Companies are required to apply the revised filing requirements and data elements from 1 May 2021; and
- Companies can opt to voluntarily apply the revised filing requirements and data elements from 16 May 2020 to 30 April 2021.
Companies that file before 1 May 2021 can continue to prepare and file the XBRL financial statements based on the current XBRL filing requirements.
Public consultation on the revised XBRL filing requirements and data elements
A public consultation was held from November 2018 to January 2019, to seek feedback on the proposed revisions to the filing requirements and data elements. Focus group discussions were also held with preparers and organisations to garner feedback and suggestions. Refer to the Summary of responses to feedback on proposed revisions to XBRL filing requirements and data elements.
An updated version of BizFinx preparation tool
Companies can continue to prepare, validate and upload their XBRL financial statements offline using the BizFinx preparation tool (Preptool). An updated version (version 3.4) of the Preptool based on the revised XBRL filing requirements is now available.
To install the updated version, please connect to the Internet, launch the Preptool (version 3.4) and click “Application Updates” on the introduction page.