On 1 March 2017, the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that foreign private issuers ("FPIs") that prepare financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") will be required to provide a version of their financial statements in interactive data format using eXtensible Business Reporting Language ("XBRL") in addition to providing financial statements in their traditional format. As of now, FPIs may voluntarily file financial data in XBRL format; however, this will be obligatory beginning with their annual reports on Form 20-F filed in 2018 relating to their first fiscal year ending on or after 15 December 2017. Previously, FPIs were not required to comply with XBRL reporting because the SEC had not specified tags for certain pieces of data—known as "taxonomy"—specifically applicable to IFRS.
XBRL enables financial analysts and regulators to easily compare and analyse a company's financial reporting, by making the data machine-readable which enables it to be searched, reorganized or downloaded into spreadsheets. Many companies use financial printers or other outside service providers to prepare their financial statements in XBRL format, as using software for the XBRL tagging can be both costly and time-consuming.
The inclusion of an XBRL exhibit will be required in the following filings:
- Form 20-F annual reports, more specifically: the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cash flows, the statement of stockholders' equity, the statement of comprehensive income (if presented separately), the notes to the financial statements, and any applicable schedules to the financial statements; and
- Form 6-K reports that contain interim financial statements which were included pursuant to the nine-month updating requirement of Item 8.A.5 of Form 20-F or a revised version of financial statements previously filed with the SEC.
By the end of the day on which the report is filed with the SEC or is required to be filed (whichever is earlier), the XBRL data will also need to be posted on the public website and remain on the website for 12 months. Providing issuers a hyperlink to the SEC's website will not be sufficient.
The relevant SEC announcement is available at:
https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2017-58.html
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