Singapore XBRL Filing Requirements with ACRA
As per ACRA, Singapore companies, either unlimited or limited by shares, are required to file their full set of financial statements in XBRL format.
What is XBRL?
XBRL is the abbreviated form of extensible Business Reporting Language. XBRL is an XML based language used for communicating and exchanging business information worldwide.
Collecting information in single format like XBRL, simplifies data analysis and data mining for government & financial analyst.
XBRL Filing in Singapore
As per ACRA, Singapore companies (unlimited or limited by shares) must file their full set of financial statements in XBRL format. However, there are some exceptions for a select group of companies. They are as below.
i) A solvent exempt private limited company whose revenue is less than S$5 million
ii) Companies limited by guarantee
iii) Companies such as Commercial Banks, Merchant Banks, Registered Insurers and Finance Companies regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore
iv) Foreign companies and their local branches
v) Companies that are allowed by law to prepare accounts in accordance with accounting standards other than the Singapore Financial Reporting Standards or the International Financial Reporting Standards;
These companies are allowed to file their statements in the Static Document Filing in PDF format. The exempted companies should file their financial statements in their Annual General Meetings (AGM).
Revised Singapore XBRL Filing Requirements
On June 2013, ACRA announced revised XBRL filing requirements with effect from December 2013. The revision enhanced and improved the quality of financial statements.
It expanded the taxonomy used in the Singapore XBRL filing. The option of filing in Partial XBRL format is no longer available. The companies have to submit their:
- Full set of XBRL Financial statements (FULL XBRL)
- Financial Statements Highlights in XBRL Format (FSH) (instead of Partial XBRL)
Full XBRL Financial Reporting
A complete set of Annual Financial Report is filed using FS Manager (an online filing tool). A full XBRL financial reporting comprises:
- Balance sheet (Statement of Financial Position)
- Reports of Auditors
- Income statement (Statement of Comprehensive Income)
- Statement of cash flow
- Directors’ statements
- Statement of Changes in Equity
- All Notes to the Financial Statements
- Information denoted by a red asterisk in FS Manager.
Key Highlights XBRL Financial Reporting
- The prepared reports can be submitted to ACRA via online BizFinx Portal. This facility was not available in FS Manager.
- Companies from sectors like banking, insurance and finance are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. They need to file AGM financial statements in PDF format with Financial Statements Highlights in XBRL format.
- Companies limited by guarantee will continue to file their financial statements in PDF format to ACRA.
- All solvent and dormant Exempt Private Companies will continue to be exempted from filing their accounts.
Outsourcing XBRL Filing to Us
The preparation effective and compliant XBRL report requires a big chunk of time, efforts, and skill. That is why many companies outsource their XBRL financial reporting to a third party that charges affordable XBRL filing fees.
SBS Consulting Pte Ltd, one of the prominent Singapore XBRL filing services, can assist with your XBRL filing. Our trained accountants deliver revised XBRL compliance filing report promptly.
XBRL Filing Fees
Our range of fee for XBRL Conversion & Filing Services
| Type of XBRL | Range of fees (in SGD) | Estimated time taken (in days) |
| Full XBRL on Company Level | S$99 – S$999* | 1-2 days |
| Full XBRL on Consolidated Level | S$199 – S$999* | 2-3 days |
| Financial Statements Highlights | S$99-S$599* | 1 Day |
*All prices exclusive of 9% GST (Goods and Services Tax)
We, as an experienced XBRL filing service provider, ensure 100% accuracy in your statutory compliance.
FAQ’s
XBRL is the eXtensible Business Reporting Language filing framework. It is XML-based and used for organising and defining financial data. In Singapore, companies must use it to convert their Financial Statements (FS) before filing their FS with ACRA. XBRL filing is part of their annual compliance. Many companies appoint XBRL filing services Singapore for the task.
It is hard, even for computer programs, to analyse data filed in different formats and sequences. It is why ACRA has made XBRL filing mandatory for Singapore companies.
This filing standard uses special tags to identify specific items in financial statements. It is called data conversion, and XBRL filing services Singapore assists with it. Converted data is easy for a computer program to parse.
Data submitted in a uniform and structured format is accessible to mine, analyse, and make sense of. Financial experts, institutes, and government agencies use it to identify trends.
You can find the best XBRL filing service right here. SBS Consulting Pte Ltd is a reliable XBRL filing service in Singapore.
Our accountants review your financial documents and convert them to the format fit for XBRL reporting. They use appropriate XBRL tags and data elements to convert the data accurately. They prepare an XBRL report for you to submit to ACRA during annual return filing.
XBRL reporting in Singapore is a part of company's annual return filing. So it is done only once per every financial year.
Singapore companies need to convey and hold their Annual General Meetings (AGM) as a part of their compliance. They also need to table their Financial Statements (FS) to the AGM.
Within a month of AGM, they have to file their FS to ACRA as part of their annual return filing. This is when they need a provider of XBRL filing services Singapore to help them convert their data and in XBRL filing.
Singapore companies must use the revised XBRL filing requirements that came into force on 1 May 2021. At the end of their financial year, they have to convey and hold their Annual General Meetings (AGM) as a part of their compliance.
The management must prepare Financial Statements (FS) to let the shareholders (AGM) know about the company's financial position. After the AGM, they have to convert these documents using XBRL format and file them as part of their annual return with ACRA.
A company's full XBRL reporting includes,
- Balance sheet
- Auditor's report
- Income statement
- Cash flow statement
- Director’s report
- Statement of Changes in Equity
- All Notes to the FS
- Information marked with a red asterisk in FS Manager
Many companies appoint accounting firms that provide XBRL filing services Singapore. This task needs accounting and knowledge of XBRL tags, elements and taxonomies.
