CORPORATE – COMPANIES – STATE OWNED ENTERPRISES – SOC’S – SUBMISSION OF ANNUAL FINANCIALS | |||||
Alert Name | |||||
Main Category | COMPANIES | Sub-Category | COMPANY SECRETARIAL | Sub-sub Category | CIPC – CUSTOMER NOTICE |
Legal citation as per
Gazette |
G43734 GoN 1018
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION SEPTEMBER 2020 |
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Applies to | COMPANIES AND COMPANY SECRETARIES | ||||
In a nutshell | Submission of Annual Financial Statements using Generally Recognized Accounting Principles (GRAP) in XBRL
CIPC’s has adopted the XBRL as a digital platform and standard of financial reporting which supports the submission of Annual Financial Statements (AFS’s) generated based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The submission of AFS’s that were generated based on Generally Recognized Accounting Principles (GRAP) will now be supported from 01 October 2020. State Owned Companies (SOC’s) who previously could not submit their GRAP standard based AFS’s in the XBRL format because it was not supported will from the 1st of October 2020 be able to submit their AFS’s in the XBRL format as opposed to submitting Financial Accountability Supplements (FAS’s) in the process of them filing their Annual Returns (AR’s). |
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Impact | From 01 October 2020 until 30 September 2021, SOC’s whose financials are based on the GRAP
standard must voluntarily file their GRAP standard based AFS in the XBRL format. From 01 October 2021, it will become mandatory for all SOC’s to submit AFS’s in the XBRL format in compliance with the Companies Act, Act 71 of 2008 as amended. |
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Action and suggested tasks | From 01 October 2020 until 30 September 2021, SOC’s whose financials are based on the GRAP
standard must voluntarily file their GRAP standard based AFS in the XBRL format. From 01 October 2021, it will become mandatory for all SOC’s to submit AFS’s in the XBRL format in compliance with the Companies Act, Act 71 of 2008 as amended. |
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Task date | 1 October 2020 | Reminder | Annual | Link to Task | |
Link to full document | Gazette document
THE LEGAL TEAM |
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Some extra detail | What is XBRL?
XBRL is the open international standard for digital business reporting, managed by a global not for profit consortium, XBRL International. We are committed to improving reporting in the public interest. XBRL is used around the world, in more than 50 countries. Millions of XBRL documents are created every year, replacing older, paper-based reports with more useful, more effective and more accurate digital versions. In a nutshell, XBRL provides a language in which reporting terms can be authoritatively defined. Those terms can then be used to uniquely represent the contents of financial statements or other kinds of compliance, performance and business reports. XBRL lets reporting information move between organisations rapidly, accurately and digitally. The change from paper, PDF and HTML based reports to XBRL ones is a little bit like the change from film photography to digital photography, or from paper maps to digital maps. The new format allows you to do all the things that used to be possible, but also opens up a range of new capabilities because the information is clearly defined, platform-independent, testable and digital. Just like digital maps, digital business reports, in XBRL format, simplify the way that people can use, share, analyse and add value to the data. What does XBRL do? Often termed “bar codes for reporting”, XBRL makes reporting more accurate and more efficient. It allows unique tags to be associated with reported facts, allowing:
Comprehensive definitions and accurate data tags allow the:
of business information of all kinds. Information in reports prepared using the XBRL standard is interchangeable between different information systems in entirely different organisations. This allows for the exchange of business information across a reporting chain. People that want to report information, share information, publish performance information and allow straight through information processing all rely on XBRL. In addition to allowing the exchange of summary business reports, like financial statements, and risk and performance reports, XBRL has the capability to allow the tagging of transactions that can themselves be aggregated into XBRL reports. These transactional capabilities allow system-independent exchange and analysis of significant quantities of supporting data and can be the key to transforming reporting supply chains. Who uses it? The international XBRL consortium is supported by more than 600 member organisations, from both the private and public sectors. The standard has been developed and refined over more than a decade and supports almost every kind of conceivable reporting, while providing a wide range of features that enhance the quality and consistency of reports, as well as their usability. XBRL is used in many different ways, for many different purposes, including by: Regulators
Companies
Governments
Data Providers
Analysts and Investors
Accountants
What are some of the most important features of XBRL? Clear Definitions XBRL allows the creation of reusable, authoritative definitions, called taxonomies, that capture the meaning contained in all of the reporting terms used in a business report, as well as the relationships between all of the terms. Taxonomies are developed by regulators, accounting standards setters, government agencies and other groups that need to clearly define information that needs to be reported upon. XBRL doesn’t limit what kind of information is defined: it’s a language that can be used and extended as needed. Testable Business Rules XBRL allows the creation of business rules that constrain what can be reported. Business rules can be logical or mathematical, or both. These business rules can be used to:
Multi-lingual Support XBRL allows concept definitions to be prepared in as many languages as necessary. Translations of definitions can also be added by third parties. This means that it’s possible to display a range of reports in a different language to the one that they were prepared in, without any additional work. The XBRL community makes extensive use of this capability as it can automatically open up reports to different communities. Strong Software Support XBRL is supported by a very wide range of software from vendors large and small, allowing a very wide range of stakeholders to work with the standard. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) embraces international best practices and the impact of the use of iXBRL when submitting Annual Financial Statements (AFS) online and in improving efficiencies. iXBRL will make it easier for Companies to report their financial information in an electronic format. CIPC mandated the digital reporting system for all qualifying entities from 1 July 2018. iXBRL is an Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language for electronic communication of business information providing major benefits in the preparation, analysis, communication of Annual Financial Statements. Digital reporting in the format of iXBRL will assist companies with filing their Annual Financial Statements to egress from a PDF reporting format to a more structured format. This will ultimately reduce the burden of multiple submissions to different regulators. iXBRL Programme Objectives are:
For more information, please refer to the links below or contact Mr Maphuthumane Masilela (Project Manager) – e-mail mmasilela@cipc.co.za, or send a query to XBRL@cipc.co.za. Details of the iXBRL ProgrammeFiling Annual Financial Statements (AFSs) via iXBRLHow-to guides / Training:
Differences between filing of Annual Financial Statements (AFSs) and Financial Accountability Supplements (FASs)
Public Consultation on CIPCs 2020 Taxonomy / Data Model You are invited to participate in the CIPC Taxonomy development process. Please see below a gap analysis report, presentation and recording of a webinar meeting that was held on the 23rd of April 2020 and a specific one aimed at GRAP professionals held on the 4th of June 2020. We invite further commentary regarding the report from the public and other regulatory stakeholders. You may forward comments and queries to xbrl@cipc.co.za.
Public Consultation on CIPCs 2019 Taxonomy / Data Model Please participate in the CIPCs process of public consultation of the 2019 taxonomy / taxonomy data model by reviewing the documents below:
Public Consultation on CIPCs 2018 Taxonomy Data Model Please participate in the CIPCs process of public consultation of the 2018 taxonomy data model by reviewing the documents below:
Provisioning of Client-Side Software for Filing of AFSs via iXBRL For entities seeking service providers for iXBRL client-side software solutions: For prospective software service providers who want to join the CIPCs vendor panel:
Pilot Phase Please note that the Pilot Phase concluded on 15 June 2018 Business Aspects Information for entities on how to comply to the CIPCs iXBRL mandate on filing of AFSs:
Technical Aspects Technical information mostly relevant only to software service providers of client-side software:
Open Source iXBRL Validators / Readers The following are open source validators / iXBRL readers that can be used to validate your “.xhtml” iXBRL files prior to uploading onto the CIPC platform. Disclaimer: Please note that the CIPC Package used in conjunction with the open source arelle® software available on the arelle.org website has not been uploaded by the CIPC but rather the community making contribution to that platform. General information on the CIPCs iXBRL Programme:
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