ACRA has issued Practice Direction No. 2 of 2020 to guide companies on the implementation of revised XBRL filing requirements. The revisions are part of the continual efforts to streamline XBRL filing requirements. For most companies, the number of data elements that they need to file with ACRA will be reduced. This follows the earlier announcement made by ACRA on 9 March 2020. The Practice Direction can be viewed here.

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:

1. Companies are required to apply the revised filing requirements and data elements from 1 January 2021; and
2. Companies can opt to voluntarily apply the revised filing requirements and data elements from 16 May 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Companies that file before 1 January 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. The summary of ACRA’s response to the feedback received can be viewed here.

An updated version of BizFin^x preparation tool

Companies can continue to prepare, validate and upload their XBRL financial statements offline using the BizFin^x preparation tool (Prep Tool). An updated version (version 3.2) of the Prep Tool based on the revised XBRL filing requirements is now available. The Excel / XBRL.zip files that are prepared using the beta version (version 3.1) released on 9 March 2020 can be edited in the updated version, without any loss of data.

To install the updated version (version 3.2) of the Prep Tool, please connect to the Internet, launch the Prep Tool (version 3) and click “Application Updates” on the introduction page.

Companies that opt to prepare, validate and upload their XBRL financial statements based on the current XBRL filing requirements till 31 December 2020 can continue to use the Prep Tool (version 2.7).