ACRA is a Singapore governing agency. The agency has mandated that all incorporated businesses use XBRL filing & XBRL conversion in Singapore to submit their complete financial statements. Unless they are exempted from the authorities, the mandate applies to companies that have unlimited shares or a limited number of shares.
What's XBRL Filing?
ACRA's mandate was effective on March 3, 2014, and clearly states that XBRL filings must comply with the revised filing requirements. ACRA provided a web portal to the companies for filing purposes. This portal also contains the XBRL preparation tools. Although it has been quite some time since the implementation of this mandate, new Singapore companies still need to be familiar with it.
XBRL stands for eXtensible business reporting language. It is used to file financial data. The goal of it is to make data accessible and searchable in a structured way. A wealth of financial data is accumulated by ACRA and other governing agencies around the globe.
Data must be made available for the Auditors, Regulators, and Financial Analysts as well as other organizations interested in economic factors. These professionals can use this data to forecast changes in the economy and predict market trends.
ACRA can use XBRL to provide value-added financial information to experts. It helps to formulate a meaningful response to market trends and changes in the regulatory environment. It will improve transparency and make financial information more accessible in a reasonable time frame to increase its utility.