All Singapore-incorporated companies are required to file their financial statements (FS) with ACRA in XBRL format, unless exempted. XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data worldwide.
Since 1 May 2021, companies are required to apply the revised XBRL filing requirements and data elements. The new data elements have been reduced significantly while still capturing relevant information from the company’s FS.
Solvent Exempt Private Companies (EPCs) are exempted from filing their FS in XBRL format. EPCs are companies with less than 20 shareholders and no corporate shareholder. Insolvent EPCs are required to file their FS in XBRL format.
Owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, or limited partnerships do not need to file FS with ACRA.
There are four templates for the filing of XBRL as follows:
Full XBRL
Simplified XBRL
XBRL FSH (Banks)
XBRL FSH (Insurance)
In general, smaller and non-publicly accountable companies need only to file Simplified XBRL. A smaller company refers to a company whose revenue and total assets for the current financial year do not exceed S$500,000.
The following are examples of a non-publicly accountable company:
i) A company that is listed or is in the process of issuing debt or equity instruments for trading on a securities exchange in Singapore;
ii) A company whose securities are listed on an exchange outside Singapore;
iii) A financial institution under the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act, Payment Services Act 2019, Securities and Futures Act or Credit Bureau Act.
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