Happy New Year to our readers!
As you must be aware, since July 2018, the CIPC Mandate commenced and requires all qualifying entities to submit their AFSs in the iXBRL reporting standard. In this blog, we walk you through the steps you need to start in preparation for this mandate:-
1) Start planning early
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
-Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln said it all; the efforts you put in planning to comply with the CIPC iXBRL Mandate is how it will turn up.
Also, according to a recent CIPC Annual Return HardStop directive, all qualifying entities are required to submit their AFS/FAS ahead of filing the Annual Returns. Non-compliance to this may cost companies up to 10% of the company turnover.
2) Evaluate your business requirements
Does your business require iXBRL conversion services or are you looking for a self-filing solution and make the process completely in-house?
If you intend to file by yourself, a number of fit-for-purpose staff may be required. The resources will need to have a background in finance and also have a working knowledge of the IFRS standards. This will help them understand the CIPC taxonomy in greater depth. (A Taxonomy is a dictionary of financial concepts against which each disclosure in the annual report needs to be mapped).
3) Plan for a budget
We didn’t actually overspend our budget. The allocation simply fell short of our expenditure.
– Keith Davis
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Budget planning is key to financial planning, and of course, compliance.
Based on your budgetary requirements, there are software solutions available that you can license on an annual basis and take the process completely in-house. On the other hand, there are also options to outsource the conversion of your Annual Report to iXBRL to service providers.
The budget varies on the strategy you choose. If you want to take the entire process in-house you will need to plan for higher budgets, on the other hand, there are several outsourcing options available that come with varied price ranges.
A concrete evaluation of the strategy by early-2019 would be ideal
4) Involve your teams and plan your calendar
Our experience in countries where a new mandate commences shows that companies prefer to outsource inline XBRL conversion services – at least for the first year-round. If you consider an outsourcing option, it’s best to set aside 1-2 weeks time to review your iXBRL tagging once you have it ready from your provider. If you wish to take the process in-house, it is even more important that you get started early and learn XBRL, which might need at least about a week of training and close to 1-2 months time for XBRL preparation, review, etc. Budget at least 20% time for review and approval of all stakeholders.
How can IRISCARBON® help you?
IRISCARBON® is a global leader in compliance reporting. The platform comes with a robust set of intuitive features designed to seamlessly file in compliance with the CIPC Mandate.
Send us an email at info@iriscarbon.com if you need any assistance with getting started with the CIPC iXBRL Mandate requirements.
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