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:

• To reduce the administrative burden on businesses when they report financial information to government for regulatory compliance.  Achieving this goal requires reducing duplication and inconsistency in business information reported to various government agencies - thus, a national (local taxonomy becomes a necessity; and

• To achieve regulatory compliance to accomplish the mission of the government agency.  The CIPC's primary mission is to provide business and financial information to investors for better transparency and to reduce the administrative costs of reporting businesses.

Should you require professional advice regarding CIPC’s iXBRL Programme please do not hesitate to contact us.