In what format should a company file its financial statements?

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) accepts filings of financial statements in both PDF and XBRL format.

From Nov 1, 2007, Singapore incorporated companies which are either limited by shares or unlimited must file their financial statements in XBRL for financial periods ending on or after April 30, 2007.

Also from Nov 1 that year, the Summary of Return merged with the Main Return as one new annual return for filing.

Companies filing financial statements in XBRL may use FS Manager. The options available are either Option A - Full XBRL- or Option B - Partial XBRL- followed by submission of the Annual Return.

Option A

A company can file its accounts under Option A for its Annual Return only if

·         The company had used the FS Manager to prepare the full set of financial statements for tabling at the annual general meeting, or

·         The FS Manager is used to prepare a full set of financial statements identical in content to the full set of financial statements tabled at the annual general meeting.

For the case of a private company which has dispensed with holding an annual general meeting, the full set of financial statements will be that sent to the shareholders of the company.

Option B

Under Option B, a company must attach a PDF copy of its full set of financial statements as tabled at the annual general meeting with its annual return.

For financial periods beginning on or before Dec 31, 2008, a company which chooses to file in Option B files a minimum of the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and information denoted by a red asterisk in FS Manager

For financial periods beginning on or after Jan 1, last year (or earlier, if Financial Reporting Standard 1(R) has been adopted), a company which chooses to file in Option B files a minimum of : the Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Comprehensive Income and information denoted by a red asterisk in FS Manager.