New business format XBRL filing deadline further extended to February 15

NEW DELHI: For the fourth time, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has extended the deadline for companies to furnish their filings in the new business format, XBRL, and now the extension is till February 15.

The extension, the fourth in a little over three months, comes amid the Ministry detecting inaccuracies in financial disclosures made by some companies through the XBRL format.

The last date to make such filings was earlier extended till January 15.

"... the time limit to file the financial statements in the XBRL mode without any additional fee/penalty has been extended up to February 15, 2013, or within 30 days from the due date of Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, whichever is later," the Ministry said in a circular on Tuesday.

Since October 2012, the deadline has seen four extensions. The first was November 15, which was later postponed to December 15. The same was again extended till January 15.

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), which would replace PDF format, is expected to improve transparency when it comes to furnishing of financial statements by companies.

Entities filing balance sheet and profit and loss account for financial year starting on or after April 1, 2011, are required to comply with the new deadline of February 15.

XBRL reporting format would be applicable for all listed companies, entities having paid up capital of Rs 5 crore and above and firms with turnover of Rs 100 crore and more.

Late last year, the Ministry had raised concerns about inaccuracies in XBRL disclosures made by some companies. The discrepancies were detected during a random check of filings.

At that time, in October, the Ministry had noted that such filings are inaccurate and do not adequately represent true and fair view of the company's state of affairs as per Section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956.

The issue has also been brought to the notice of bodies of chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants.

The inaccuracies were found in e-forms that were certified by Chartered Accountant/Company Secretary/Cost & Works Accountant professionals for their completeness and correctness in representation with respect to audited financial statement of the company.

"Such lapses defeat the very purpose of introducing XBRL filings which are meant to elicit more detailed and refined information as to affairs of companies," the Ministry had said.