INDIA

 General FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Genral_Faqs.html

1. What is XBRL?

XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionising business reporting around the world. It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information. It offers cost savings, greater efficiency and improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data. It is an open standard, free of license fees, being developed by a non-profit making international consortium. Other pages on this web site provide detailed information on XBRL, its technical features and its business opportunities.

2. What are the potential uses of XBRL?

XBRL can be applied to a very wide range of business and financial data. Among other things, it can handle:-

• Company internal and external financial reporting.
• Business reporting to all types of regulators, including tax and financial authorities, central banks and governments.
• Filing of loan reports and applications; credit risk assessments.
• Exchange of information between government departments or between other institutions, such as central banks.
• Authoritative accounting literature – providing a standard way of describing accounting documents provided by authoritative bodies.

3. Who can benefit from using XBRL?

All types of organizations can use XBRL to save costs and improve efficiency in handling business and financial information. Because XBRL is extensible and flexible, it can be adapted to a wide variety of different requirements. All participants in the financial information supply chain can benefit, whether they are preparers, transmitters or users of business data.

4. What is the future of XBRL?

XBRL is set to become the standard way of recording, storing and transmitting business financial information. It is capable of use throughout the world, whatever the language of the country concerned, for a wide variety of business purposes. It will deliver major cost savings and gains in efficiency, improving processes in companies, governments and other organizations.

5. Who developed XBRL?

XBRL is being developed by an international non-profit consortium of major companies, organizations and government agencies. These include the world’s leading accounting, technology, government and financial services bodies.

6. What are the benefits to a company from putting its financial statements into XBRL?

XBRL increases the usability of financial statement information. The need to re-key financial data for analytical and other purposes can be eliminated. By presenting its statements in XBRL, a company can benefit investors and raise its profile. It will also meet the requirements of regulators, lenders and others consumers of financial information, who are increasingly demanding reporting in XBRL. This will improve business relations and lead to a range of benefits.

With full adoption of XBRL, companies can automate data collection. For example, data from different company divisions with different accounting systems can be assembled quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Once data is gathered in XBRL, different types of reports using varying subsets of the data can be produced with minimum effort. A company finance division, for example, could quickly and reliably generate internal management reports, financial statements for publication, tax and other regulatory filings, as well as credit reports for lenders. Not only can data handling be automated, removing time-consuming, error-prone processes, but the data can be checked by software for accuracy.

7. How do companies create statements in XBRL?

• XBRL-aware accounting software products are becoming available which will support the export of data in XBRL form. These tools allow users to map charts of accounts and other structures to XBRL tags.
• Statements can be mapped into XBRL using XBRL software tools designed for this purpose.
• Data from accounting databases can be extracted in XBRL format. It is not strictly necessary for an accounting software vendor to use XBRL; third party products can achieve the transformation of the data to XBRL.
• Applications can transform data in particular formats into XBRL. For example, web sites are in operation that can transform filings into XBRL format

The route which an individual company may take will depend on its requirements and the accounting software and systems it currently uses, among other factors.

8. Where can I find software which will help me create or use XBRL?

Several software vendors are developing such tools in India and the companies are free to choose the one that suits them to create XBRL document.

9. Why are Accounting Institutes like ICAI in India taking a major role in the XBRL consortium?

A core purpose of Accounting Institutes around the world is to enhance the access, quality and breadth of financial information available to the investing public. XBRL will help achieve this. Institutes also believe that the development of XBRL will help position their members as valued knowledge providers for their clients. Businesses, large and small, are undergoing fundamental change. Accountants, as the managers of the underlying language of business, can help organizations fit into the new digital world, solve business issues and capitilise on opportunities.

10. Does XBRL cause a change in accounting standards?

No.   XBRL is simply a language for transmitting information. It must accurately reflect data reported under different standards – it does not change them.

11. Does XBRL benefit the comparability of financial statements?

XBRL benefits comparability by helping to identify data which is genuinely alike and distinguishing information which is not comparable.

1. FAQs for Cost Audit

(i) Cost Audit FAQs http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/cost_audit_faq_report.html

1. What is XBRL?

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a language based on XML (Extensible Markup Language) family of languages. It is an open standards-based reporting system that is built to accommodate the electronic preparation and exchange of business reports around the world using internet as a medium. It has been defined specifically to meet the requirements of business and financial information.

It enables unique identifying tags to be applied to items of accounting data. The tags provide a range of information about the item, such as whether it is a monetary item, percentage or fraction. XBRL not only allows labels in any language to be applied to items, it also allows the accounting references or other subsidiary information to be added to the tags.

2. What are the potential uses of XBRL?

XBRL can be applied to a very wide range of business applications including financial and cost data. XBRL has applications in the following areas:-

• Reporting for internal and external purposes by an entity involving financial and costing data/information.
• Business reporting to all types of regulators, including tax and financial authorities, central banks and governments.
• Filing of loan reports and applications; credit risk assessments.
• Exchange of information between government departments, institutions and banks.

3. Who can benefit from using XBRL?

All types of organizations can make use of XBRL to automate their process of data collection and distribution to various stakeholders. It helps in saving costs and improving the efficiency in managing business information – financial or cost. XBRL, being extensible and flexible, can be adapted to a wide variety of requirements. All stakeholders whether they are preparers, transmitters or users of business data in the financial information supply chain can benefit from the use of XBRL.

4. What is the future of XBRL?

XBRL has a bright future ahead of it that goes way beyond the current focus on regulatory reporting and compliance. Businesses that are now creating XBRL filings for regulatory bodies should be thinking about how they can leverage their investment in understanding and using XBRL to drive more consistent and comparable internal reporting. By tagging data at the account/transaction level, by investigating how XBRL can help to deliver new holistic reports that integrate and connect financial and non-financial data, and by leveraging emerging online XBRL data streams for better industry performance and peer group analytics, every business can power its own journey towards financial transformation.

5. Who developed XBRL?

The Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is managed and promoted by XBRL International, a not-for-profit consortium, with companies, government bodies and other organizations as its members. Currently over 600 organizations are associated with XBRL International. It is comprised of jurisdictions, which represent countries, regions or international bodies and which focus on the progress of XBRL in their area.

6. What is the benefit of having cost related data in XBRL format?

Government and Regulators require cost data of different sectors for policy making. The availability of cost data [without compromising on the confidentiality] in XBRL format enables informed decision making and for sectoral studies.

With full adoption of XBRL, companies would be able to integrate its financial and cost data across its operational areas and exercise better control on its activities.

7. What is Costing Taxonomy?

Costing Taxonomy is a dictionary of all cost elements required in the cost audit report and compliance report. The costing taxonomy contains the properties and inter-relationships of all these cost elements for the purposes of capturing the required reporting data in XBRL format.

8. Where can I find the Costing Taxonomy and related Business Rules?

The Costing Taxonomy and related Business Rules including sample instance documents can be downloaded from the website of MCA (http://mca.gov.in). The specific links are as follows:

Costing Taxonomy –
http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/Costing_Taxonomy_2012-11-22_v1.0.zip

Business Rules –
http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/Revised_Business_Rules_Updated_XBRL_Costing_29.11.2012.zip

9. What are the contents of the excel sheets provided with the Costing Taxonomy?

The excel sheets are for reference and easy understanding of various components of taxonomy in a human readable form. The excel workbook contains the following worksheets:-

1. Elements: This worksheet contains all the concepts that form the costing taxonomy. The concepts are defined as elements/tags along with their characteristics such as data type, balance type, Nillable etc. e.g. cost of sales of product or activity group is an element defined as:

1. Labels: This worksheet contains the 491 nos. of labels to be used as preferred labels in the final presentation (rendering) of the report in human readable format. A screenshot of the labels is given below:

1. References: This worksheet contains the relationships between elements and the references of the elements defined by authoritative literature. The reference parts used are listed below:

1. Extended Link Cost Audit Report: This worksheet contains the Extended Link Role definitions contained in the Cost Audit Report. Extended Link Roles represents a set of relationships between concepts and are the logical grouping of elements. The extended links are then used in link bases to build the relationships. The list of extended link roles in the Cost Audit Report are:

1. Presentation Cost Audit Report: This worksheet defines the structure of the Cost Audit Report for displaying the data along with preferred label attribute and the specific order in which they appear. This enables the taxonomy users to view the representation of elements in the human readable format. The illustration below shows the presentation of Product or Activity Group Details (Para 3 of the Annexure to Cost Audit Report):

1. Calculation Cost Audit Report: This worksheet contains the Additive relationships between numeric items expressed as parent-child hierarchies in the Cost Audit Report. Each calculation child has a weight attribute (+1 or -1) based upon the natural balance of the parent and child items. Illustration below represents the calculation view of the Value addition and distribution of earnings of the Annexure to Cost Audit Report (Para 8):

1. Definition Cost Audit Report: It is used to express the dimensional relationship between elements of the Costing Taxonomy for the Cost Audit Report. An illustration of the definition linkbase for the Cost Audit Report showing elements of the Product or Activity Group Details is given below:

1. Extended Link Compliance Report: This worksheet contain the Extended Link Role definitions contained in the Compliance Report. Extended Link Roles represents a set of relationships between concepts and are the logical grouping of elements. The extended links are then used in link bases to build the relationships. The list of extended link roles in the Compliance Report are:
2. Presentation Compliance: This worksheet defines the structure of the Compliance Report for displaying the data along with preferred label attribute and the specific order in which they appear. This enables the taxonomy users to view the representation of elements in the human readable format. The illustration below shows the presentation of Quantitative Information (Para 2 of the Annexure to Compliance Report):

1. Calculation Compliance Report: This worksheet contains the Additive relationships between numeric items expressed as parent-child hierarchies in the Compliance Report. Each calculation child has a weight attribute (+1 or -1) based upon the natural balance of the parent and child items. Illustration below represents the calculation view of the Quantitative Information and Reconciliation Statement of the Annexure to Compliance report:

1. Definition Compliance Report: It is used to express the dimensional relationship between elements of the Costing Taxonomy for the Cost Audit Report. An illustration of the definition linkbase for the Compliance Report showing elements of the Quantitative Information (Para 2) is given below:

10. What is the use of other files given in xml / xsd format along with the taxonomy?

Taxonomy file has extensions of XML and XSD. An XBRL processor (computer software that understands and/or manipulates XBRL documents) will need those XML and XSD documents.

(ii) Cost Audit Filing related FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Ques_Stake1_report.html

1. Which companies are required to file Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report in XBRL format and what is the authority for the same?

Ministry of Corporate Affairs has mandated filing of the Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report from the financial year 2011-12 onwards (including overdue reports relating to any previous year) by all cost auditors and companies concerned by using the XBRL taxonomy. MCA vide Circular No. 18/2012 dated July 26, 2012, has extended the last date of filing of cost audit reports and compliance reports with the Central Government in XBRL format up to December 31, 2012. The relevant General Circular No. 8/2012 dated 10.5.2012 [as amended on 29.6.2012] and No. 18/2012 dated 26.7.2012 issued by MCA can be accessed from the following link: http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/companies_act.html

2. Which companies are not required to file the Cost Audit Report?

All such companies that are NOT covered under the company specific Cost Audit Orders issued prior to 31.3.2011 and/or under the industry specific Cost Audit Order No. 52/26/CAB-2010 dated 2nd May 2011, 30th June 2011 and 24th January 2012 are not required to file Cost Audit Report. However, companies meeting with the threshold limits as prescribed in the relevant Cost Accounting Records Rules 2011 are required to file Compliance Report in the XBRL format.

3. Which companies are exempted from filing the Compliance Report?

All such companies that are not covered under any of the Cost Accounting Records Rules notified in 2011 are not required to file the Compliance Report.

Further, as per MCA’s General Circular No. 68/2011 dated 30.11.2011 read with the General Circular No. 12/2012 dated 4.6.2012, such companies that are covered under any of the Cost Accounting Records Rules notified in 2011 but wherein all their products/activities, excluding the exempted categories, are covered under cost audit, are not required to separately file the Compliance Report.

4. If my Cost Audit Report pertains to the financial year prior to 2011-12, then do I need to file the report in XBRL format?

As per MCA’s General Circular No. 8/2012 dated 10.5.2012, all Cost Audit Reports required to be filed with the Central Government starting from financial year 2011-12 and also in respect of any financial years prior to 2011-12 [that has not been filed so far] need to be filed in XBRL format.

5. Central Government vide General Circular no. 18/2012 dated July 26, 2012 has extended filing of the Cost Audit Report in XBRL format till December 31, 2012. A company follows different financial year viz. from October 01, 2011 to September 30, 2012. As per Companies (Cost Audit Report) Rules, 2011, filing of Cost Audit Report becomes due by March 27, 2013, i.e. within 180 days from the end of the reporting year. Is this company still required to file the Cost Audit Report in XBRL format by December 31, 2012 or it would be allowed to file the report until March 27, 2013?

The companies are required to file their Cost Audit Report [or the Compliance report] for the year 2011-12 within 180 days of the close of the financial year or by December 31, 2012, whichever is later.

6. Who will certify XBRL filing for Cost Audit Report?

The Cost Auditor [or the lead Cost Auditor in case the company has more than one Cost Auditors] is required to digitally sign and file the Cost Audit Report for the company as a whole.

7. Who will certify XBRL filing for Compliance Report?

Any valid Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India who is either in full-time employment with the concerned company or is holding full-time Certificate of Practice can only certify the Compliance Report.

8. I am holding valid membership of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India as well as of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. As a full-time employee of the company, can I certify its Compliance Report?

Yes, being a valid Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and in full-time employment with the concerned company, you can certify its Compliance Report provided you are not signing the Compliance Report as Company Secretary or as Director of the company also.

9. The responsibility of filing Cost Audit Report with the Central Government lies with the Cost Auditor. Whose responsibility is it to create XBRL document?

Creation of the Cost Audit Report in XBRL format, as approved by the Board and certified by the Cost Auditor, is the responsibility of the company. However, filing the Cost Audit Report in XBRL format with the Central Government is the responsibility of the Cost Auditor, who has to ensure the correctness of data and other information contained in the XBRL Instance Document.

10. I have completed the Cost Audit and the Board of Directors has also approved the Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report. Is the Board of Directors of the company required to approve the Instance document of the Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report?

No separate approval from the Board is required for the Instance document of the Cost Audit Report or of the Compliance Report since the data/information contained in the Instance document would already have been approved by the Board of Directors. However, if the data & other information as given in the Instance document differ from that approved by the Board, then it is advisable to get fresh approval of the revised Cost Audit Report or the Compliance Report unless the Board while according approval had authorized any officer of the company to make modifications as required in the XBRL document.

11. A company has not appointed anyone as the lead cost auditor. Is it required to appoint a lead cost auditor for consolidation?

The company is not required to separately appoint a lead Cost Auditor. It may designate/nominate any one of the existing Cost Auditors as the lead Cost Auditor and assign the additional task of consolidation, who would be responsible for verifying the consolidated report and filing the same with the Central Government.

12. Is Performance Appraisal Report required to be filed with the Central Government as a part of the Cost Audit Report?

As per provisions of the Companies (Cost Audit Report) Rules, 2011, every cost auditor, who submits a cost audit report, is also required to furnish Performance Appraisal Report to the Board/Audit Committee of the company in the prescribed format (Form III). However, this report will not be required to be filed with the Central Government.

13. My company is in the business of power generation. As per the MCA Circular, power companies are not required to file the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Account in XBRL format. Do I still need to file Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report (as applicable) in XBRL format?

Power generation companies have been exempted from filing their Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Account in XBRL format as the relevant taxonomy as per disclosure requirements under the Electricity Act, 2003 is still under development. However, under the said Act, there are no such separate disclosure requirements for cost details. Hence, the costing Taxonomy for filing the Cost Audit Report or the Compliance Report is common to all companies. Therefore, companies engaged in the business of power generation, transmission or distribution are also required to file Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report (as applicable) in the XBRL format.

(iii) Cost Audit Taxonomy related FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Ques_Stake2_report.html

1. Can I use C&I taxonomy to create Cost Audit Report or Compliance Report?

No, there is a separate in-Cost taxonomy for creating Cost Audit Report or Compliance Report. The Costing Taxonomy can be accessed from the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The relevant link for the costing taxonomy is:

http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/Costing_Taxonomy_2012-11-22_v1.0.zip

2. Do I need separate validation tool for validating the instance document of Cost Audit Report/Compliance report or the same validation tool as applicable for validating the instance document of Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss account can be used?

Yes. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has developed separate validation tool to validate the instance documents of Cost Audit Report or Compliance report. The MCA XBRL validation tool can be downloaded from the XBRL website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs from the following link:

http://xbrltool.mca.gov.in/XBRL/XBRL_TOOL/MCAXBRLCostingTaxonomy_ValidationTool_Version2.0.zip

3. My company has to file both Cost Audit Report and Compliance report. Can I use the same taxonomy for both the reports?

Yes. The in-Cost taxonomy contains elements for both Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report. The entry points are different. However, common elements are defined at one place only.

4. Costing taxonomy shows variation when compared to the formats of Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report given in the notified Cost Accounting Records Rules and Cost Audit Report Rules. Can the instance documents created as per Costing taxonomy be filed with the Central Government or I need to create instance document conforming to the notified formats?

In XBRL mode, only the requisite data & other information as per the Costing Taxonomy is required to be filed by attaching the valid instance document with the relevant e-Form. No other formats as earlier notified are required to be filed. The final Costing Taxonomy as available on the MCA website supersedes the formats of Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report as given in the earlier notified Cost Accounting Records Rules and Cost Audit Report Rules.

5. The revised structure of the Compliance Report as well as the Cost Audit Report has stipulated reporting at the “Product or Activity Group” level. What would be the basis of determining a “Product or Activity Group” for a multi-product company?

“Product or Activity Group classification” shall be strictly in accordance with the notification issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide S.O. No. 1747(E) dated 7th August 2012. The link for accessing the product group notification is:

http://mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/S.O.(E)1747_07_08_2012.pdf

6. If my company deals in multiple product groups and there are multiple cost auditors appointed in the company. Do I need to file multiple Cost Audit Reports or only consolidated Cost Audit Report in XBRL format?

In the XBRL format, you are required to file only one consolidated Cost Audit Report for the company as a whole. If a company has multiple Cost Auditors, then in such case, one of them may be designated/nominated as the lead Cost Auditor who will file the consolidated cost audit report for the company as a whole. However, the lead Cost Auditor would be required to provide details of all the Cost Auditors of the company including the report of the individual Cost Auditors with their comments and observations separately for each Cost Auditor in the consolidated report. Only the data contained in para 3 to 11 would be consolidated, wherever applicable.

7. In the Abridged Cost Statement (Para 5) of the Cost Audit Report pertaining to my company, I want to report cost elements for which I am not able to find the corresponding elements in the taxonomy? How do I report such costs?

In the Costing taxonomy, there is provision for separate link Table for Industry Specific Operating Expenses in the Abridged Cost Statement of the Cost Audit Report. Such cost details, for which no matching corresponding cost element is found in the Abridged Cost Statement, such cost elements are to be defined and reported in the industry specific operating expenses link table.

8. In the Abridged Cost Statement (Para 5) of the Cost Audit Report pertaining to my company, I want to report more than 10 numbers of materials/ utilities/ industry specific operating expenses? However, the taxonomy supports only reporting 10 numbers of materials/ utilities/ industry specific operating expenses in the corresponding link tables? How do I report additional cost elements under these heads?

The materials/utilities/industry specific operating expenses link tables in the Abridged Cost Statement have a provision for reporting only 10 different cost elements respectively. In case, a company has more than 10 numbers of materials/utilities/industry specific operating expenses, 9 nos. of such materials/utilities/industry specific operating expenses, whose value is in descending order need to be reported separately and the balance may be clubbed together as “others” so as to ensure that the total value of such materials/utilities or industry specific operating expenses is equal to the materials cost or the utilities cost or the industry specific operating cost [as the case may be] reported in the main part of the Abridged Cost Statement. Since the “others” category would be an amalgamation of different elements, the unit, quantity and rate in the “others” category may be kept blank.

9. Where do I get 8-digit ITC Codes / NPCS Codes to be used for preparing the Cost Audit Report?

The 8-digit ITC Codes can be accessed from the link:

http://www.mca.gov.in/XBRL/pdf/ITC_HS_codes.pdf

The 8-digit NPCS Code can be accessed from the link:

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/pdf/NPCS_codes.pdf

10. In my company, two different units of measurement are used for the same product group. How do I report details about such product groups under the relevant Para of the Cost Audit Report?

If a company has two different units of measurement for the same product group, then details for the same product group are to be reported twice with different units of measurement for all the relevant paras and such details need not be aggregated on the Product or Activity Group Code. In this connection, the notes provided in the notification issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide S.O. No. 1747(E) dated 7th August 2012 may be referred to.

(iv) Cost Audit e-filing related FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Ques_Stake3_report.html

1. Whether the existing e-forms are to be used for filing Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report in XBRL mode?

No, the existing forms are not to be used for filing Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report. For this, new Form I-XBRL for Cost Audit Report and A-XBRL for Compliance Report have been made available on the MCA portal that can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/Download_eForm_choose.html

2. By when can we file the Form 23CAR-XBRL and 23CR-XBRL for Cost Audit Report & Compliance Report?

All cost auditors and companies can file their Cost Audit Reports / Compliance Reports by 31st December 2012, in XBRL mode by using e-Form 23CAR-XBRL and 23CR-XBRL, without any penalty, up to 31stDecember 2012 or 180 days from the end of the financial year, whichever is later.

3. Do we have the option to file detailed Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report with the form as PDF attachment instead of XBRL format?

No, the PDF formats of Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report are not allowed to be attached. Only the XBRL instance documents of Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report needs to be attached with the Form 23CAR-XBRL and 23CR-XBRL respectively.

4. Whether the instance documents attached with Form 23CAR-XBRL and 23CR-XBRL needs to be digitally signed. If yes, by whom?

No, the instance documents attached with the e-Forms are not required to be digitally signed. Only the e-Form 23CAR-XBRL for filing the Cost Audit Report need to be digitally signed by the Cost Auditor [or by the lead Cost Auditor as the case may be as well as by one director and another director/ manager/company secretary of the company.

The e-Form 23CR-XBRL for filing the Compliance Report need to be digitally signed by the Cost Accountant who has certified such Compliance Report of the company as well as by one director and another director/manager/ company secretary of the company.

5. While filing the Form 23C in MCA-21 portal, there was some mistake pertaining to the name of the firm. Can I still file the Cost Audit Report for the company?

Yes, you can still file the Cost Audit Report in the XBRL format provided the Form 23C belongs to the same company and same cost auditor.

6. Does Government allow re-filing of the revised Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report in case of any errors in the original filings?

For the current year, the MCA-21 system would allow re-filing of the revised Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report of the company only in case of an error in the original fillings.

7. Does Government allow multiple filings of the Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report for the same company?

For each company, only one consolidated Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report for the company as a whole is required to be filed in the XBRL format.

8. What shall be the process for uploading the filled Form 23CAR-XBRL and 23CR-XBRL on MCA portal?

The process for uploading the filled Form I-XBRL and A-XBRL is same as the process of filing of any other e-form, for example, Form 23C or Form 23D or earlier e-form for filing cost audit report with pdf attachment. For further assistance, refer the Filing Manual available on the following link:

http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/XBRL_Filing%20manual_Costing%201.0.pdf

9. How to view the Cost Audit Report / Compliance Report submitted in XBRL format on MCA Portal?

The Cost Audit Report/ Compliance Report filed by the company are not public documents and cannot be viewed in public domain by anyone.

1. FAQ for Financial Statement filing

(i)  FAQs for FY 2010-11

(a) MCA specific FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/MCA_specific.html

1. In case consolidation is applicable for current financial year and not applicable for the previous year, then how to file consolidated XBRL instance document?

With respect to consolidated financial statements, if consolidation is not applicable for previous year, then consolidated financial statements of current year is to be attached in pdf format only. In this case only standalone financial statement is to be attached in XBRL mode.

Similarly, if consolidation is applicable only for previous year and not for current year, then consolidated financial statements of previous year to be attached in pdf format and standalone financial statement is to be attached in XBRL mode.

In such case, select ‘NO’ in the field 8′ Whether consolidated balance sheet is also being filed’ and provide the consolidated financials in pdf format as an ‘optional attachment’.

2. I would like to know, whether the XBRL software has to be purchased from separate vendors and then install in our computers or MCA itself will provide us with the software. Which agency should I approach to get the XBRL software?

XBRL instance document creation software has to be purchased from the software vendors in the market. This software is used to create XBRL instance documents that would be uploaded on the MCA portal. MCA21 system shall provide a facility for validation of the instance document and filing of the same. MCA is not recommending any specific XBRL software.

3. I am interested in taking training for filing in XBRL format. Kindly advice.

ICAI, which is assisting MCA with conduct of XBRL training, has been instructed to develop standard Training module as well identify resource persons in consultation with XBRL training partners located at different parts on the country. It is proposed to engage leading chambers of industry and other professional institutes, namely, ICWAI and ICSI in future trainings. Training will be held over the next few months in most leading cities of India. Details of the same will be available on our website www.mca.gov.in or www.xbrl.icai.org.

4. When we are filing Balance Sheet in XBRL format, then whether the Previous Forms 23AC and 23ACA are still in existence or not?

Existing Form 23AC and 23ACA shall continue to be there for filing by companies to which XBRL filing is not applicable; and for filing of earlier year’s documents.

5. How to upload the XBRL format?

Kindly see the document ‘Steps for filing XBRL in MCA21.doc’ on the website.

6. How to retype ‘Notes to Accounts and Statements’ in XBRL format?

This shall be catered by the XBRL instance document creation software

7. If the subsidiary Company’s paid up capital is less than Rupees 5 Crore, then I want to know whether it is to be filed in XBRL format.

Subsidiary of listed company is required to file in XBRL format, irrespective of its paid up capital.

8. Please give proper understanding on XBRL Taxonomy. Why does the excel file contain five sheets.

XBRL is a collection of standardized, machine-readable “tags” for line items in financial statements, including footnotes and schedules. It is similar in concept to bar codes used to identify products. Using XBRL, each line in a financial statement is assigned a standardized data tag.

XBRL is a standards-based way to communicate business and financial information. These communications are defined by metadata set out in taxonomies. Taxonomies capture the definition of individual reporting concepts as well as the relationships between concepts and other semantic meaning.

The taxonomy comprises of the following components:-

• Schema – Defines the elements used in the linkbases
• Presentation linkbase – Which defines the structure for displaying the data, along with the preferred label attribute.
• Calculation linkbase – Establishes the arithmetical relationship of simple addition and subtraction, which is done by way of a weight attribute (1 or -1)
• Label linkbase – Stores the labels about the concepts (it is the human readable name of the element)

Kindly see relevant section on the website for more on XBRL.

9. What are the other files to be used for given in xml / xsd format?

The XML and XSDs actually make the real taxonomy. The excel sheet is just for you to view it. An XBRL processor (a computer software that understands and/or manipulates XBRL documents) will need those XML and XSD documents.

10. What is taxonomy? How to define the taxonomies?

XBRL is a standards-based way to communicate business and financial information. These communications are defined by metadata set out in taxonomies. Taxonomies capture the definition of individual reporting concepts as well as the relationships between concepts and other semantic meaning.

Kindly see relevant section on the website for more on Taxonomy.

(b) Technical FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Technical_Faqs.html

1. What is the value of xlink:href attribute in the schemaRef element?

The value of the xlink:href attribute in the schemaRef element in the instance document must be ‘http://www.mca.gov.in/XBRL/2011/05/25/Taxonomy/CnI/ci/in-gaap-ci-2011-03-31.xsd’.

2. What are the differences between HTML, XML and XBRL?

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a standard way of marking up a document so it can be published on the World Wide Web and viewed in a browser. It provides a set of pre-defined tags describe on how content appears in a browser. For example, it describes the font and colour of text. It gives little information on meaning or context. XML (Extensible Markup Language) uses tags to identify the meaning, context and structure of data.

XML is a standard language which is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). XML does not replace HTML; it is a complementary format that is platform independent, allowing XML data to be rendered on any device such as a computer, cell phone, PDA or tablet device. It enables rich, structured data to be delivered in a standard, consistent way. Whereas HTML offers a fixed, pre-defined number of tags, XML neither defines nor limits tags. Instead, XML provides a framework for defining tags (i.e. taxonomy) and the relationship between them (i.e. schema).

XBRL is an XML-based schema that focuses specifically on the requirements of business reporting. XBRL builds upon XML, allowing accountants and regulatory bodies to identify items that are unique to the business reporting environment. The XBRL schema defines how to create XBRL documents and XBRL taxonomies, providing users with a set of business information tags that allows users to identify business information in a consistent way. XBRL is also extensible in that users are able to create their own XBRL taxonomies that define and describe tags unique to a given environment.

3. XBRL 2.0 published in December 2001 had a 41 page specification and the 2.1 Specification of December 2003 has over 150 pages. What accounts for this?

Many of the pages constitute the XML Schemas defining XBRL, and the change log. In the remaining pages, there are many more examples, fragments included from the defining schemas, greater detail about pre-existing XBRL 2.0 features, and detailed explanations of the new features.

4. How will users benefit from the more detailed technical exposition of existing features In XBRL 2.1?

There have always been restrictions on what is a meaningful taxonomy schema, meaningful linkbase, and meaningful instances. In the past many of these criteria were implicit; these criteria are now part of the specification. In some cases, they may be enforced using XML Schema, requiring no new code to be written, and in other cases the specification enables vendors to write correct validation code. Examples of these technical enhancements include: a detailed exposition of handling variable precision numbers, prohibitions on certain kinds of loops in relationships, and prohibition of duplicated data in instances. The meaning of calculation links and their ability to express relationships between items in different tuples has been specified precisely.

5. What are the new XBRL 2.1 features that developers and users can choose to benefit from?

Domain experts and application developers can now encode more precise information about financial reporting concepts in XBRL taxonomies. They can also define the handling of new relationships not defined by XBRL itself. New relationships allow taxonomy authors to connect taxonomy definitions to authoritative definitions and other supporting documentation.

6. A number of taxonomies which are compliant with Specification 2.0 are published on the XBRL International web site. Will these be upgraded to comply with Specification 2.1?

Yes, we expect taxonomy authors gradually to upgrade their taxonomies to 2.1. This is a prerequisite for conformance with the Financial Reporting Taxonomies Architecture (FRTA) 1.0. However, 2.0 versions of these taxonomies may also be made available at the discretion of the taxonomy authors.

7. What does the XBRL 2.1 conformance suite consist of?

The conformance suite consists of over 250 example taxonomy fragments (XML Schema and XLink files) and instance documents, containing both valid and invalid usage. It will help application developers ensure their software processes XBRL correctly.

8. Who developed the XBRL 2.1 specification?

The XBRL International Domain Working Group developed a detailed set of requirements which were then implemented by the XBRL International Specification Working Group.

9. Where can I obtain a set of XBRL 2.1 documents to test my software with?

The XBRL 2.1 Conformance Suite is posted in a large (more than 5MB) zip file on the XBRL International web site, alongside the XBRL 2.1 specification. The Conformance Suite contains over 250 separate XBRL instances. Although the instances are small, there is a subset of them that are specifically designed to exercise each feature of an XBRL instance and their interactions.

10. What kind of database should be used with XBRL?

XBRL is a format for exchanging information between applications. Therefore each application will store data in whatever form is most effective for its own requirements and import and export information in XBRL format so that it can be readily imported or exported in turn by other applications. In some applications, for example, the XBRL formatted information being used may be mostly tabular numeric information, hence easily manipulated in a relational database. In other applications, the XBRL information may consist of narrative document-like structures with a lot of text, so that a native XML database may be more appropriate. There is no mandatory relationship between XBRL and any particular database or other processing or storage architecture.

(c) Questions from Stakeholders

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Ques_Stake.html

1. Which companies have to file their financial statements in XBRL Mode?

The companies whose Balance Sheet date is 31.03.2011 or onwards, need to file their financial statements in XBRL provided they qualify the criteria laid as per Ministry’s general Circular 37/2011 dated 07.06.2011.

2. If a company falls in Phase-I class of companies, is the consolidated financial statement of the listed holding company alone is required to be filed in XBRL or the subsidiaries also need to file their financials in XBRL?

The holding company has to file consolidated financial statement in XBRL. Its subsidiaries also need to file their financials in XBRL.

3. If Subsidiary company has a different year ending from holding company, will the subsidiary still be required to file XBRL document?

If the Subsidiary company meets the criteria of phase-I category of companies, they have to file in the XBRL mode.

4. Is voluntary filing of financial statements in XBRL mode for the Year 2010-11 encouraged for companies outside the Phase-I category of companies?

Yes encouraged, such a company need not file the Financial Statements in PDF Format.

5. What is the definition for exempted class of companies? How does a company classify into Power, Banking, Insurance and NBFC?

All such companies, whose financial statements are generated as per accounting requirements other than Schedule VI of the Company Act, 1956 have been exempted from XBRL filing for year 2010-11. The companies regulated by any other act like Electricity Act, 2003, Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Insurance Act, etc are exempted from XBRL filing in the Phase-I filings.

NBFCs that are registered with RBI as an NBFC are exempted from XBRL filing for year 2010-11. Moreover, all Power companies are exempted from XBRL filing for year 2010-11 irrespective of whether Schedule VI is applicable or not.

6. Who will certify the XBRL filing?

The certification of XBRL filing would be done by the professional as before. The professional may use XBRL viewer tool to satisfy himself about the authenticity of XBRL document as per the audited financial statements.

7. Does the subsidiary of a subsidiary of a listed company also need to file in XBRL?

Yes, all the subsidiaries (including subsidiary of a subsidiary of a listed company) of a listed company in India need to file their financial statements in XBRL this year.

8. What would be situation if holding and subsidiary company fall in different sector?

Applicability of XBRL filing would as under

(d) XBRL e-forms (Form 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA-XBRL)

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/xbrl_eform_faq.html

1. Whether the existing Form 23AC and Form 23ACA are to be used for filing balance sheet and profit and loss account in XBRL mode?

No, the existing Form 23AC and Form 23ACA are not to be used for filing balance sheet and profit and loss account in XBRL mode. For this, new Form 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA-XBRL have been made available on the MCA portal.

2. By when can we file the Form 23AC- XBRL & ACA- XBRL? Will I be charged additional fees if my financial year is 2010-2011?

MCA has given exemption of additional fee for filing the financial statements in XBRL mode for the financial year 2010-11. The company can file the Form 23AC-XBRL and Form 23ACA- XBRL without additional fees up to 30th November 2011 or 60 days from due date of filing, whichever is later.

3. Do we have the option to file detailed balance sheet and profit and loss account with the form as PDF attachment instead of XBRL format?

No, the PDF attachment of balance sheet and Profit and loss account is not required to be attached. Only the XBRL instance documents of balance sheet and profit and loss account needs to be attached with the Form 23AC-XBRL and Form 23ACA- XBRL respectively.

4. How to convert the balance sheet and profit and loss account in the XBRL format?

Companies have the option to create their own XBRL documents in house or to engage a third party to convert their financial statements into XBRL form.

The first step in creation of an instance document is to do tagging of the XBRL taxonomy elements with the various accounting heads in the books of accounts of the company.Once the tagging of financial statement elements with the published taxonomy elements is done, the next step is to create the instance document. An instance document is a XML file that contains business reporting information and represents a collection of financial facts and report-specific information using tags from the XBRL taxonomy.

The XBRL instance document needs to be created using a software tool for conversion.

For detailed process in respect of creation of instance document, refer the Filing Manual available on XBRL portal of the Ministry. (www.mca.gov.in/XBRL)

5. Whether it is required to validate the instance document created before uploading the same on MCA portal?

Yes, validating the instance document is a pre requisite before filing the balance sheet and profit & loss account on MCA portal. A tool has been provided on the MCA XBRL portal for validating the generated XBRL instance document. You are required to download the tool from the portal and validate the instance document before uploading the same. The MCA XBRL validation tool can be downloaded from the XBRL website of the Ministry.(www.mca.gov.in/XBRL)

6. Only ‘Commercial and Industrial (C&I)’ appears under ‘Type of industry’ field in the XBRL forms?

As per MCA’s circular, C&I companies which are meeting the criteria have been mandated for filing their annual accounts in XBRL mode for the financial year 2010-11.Please note that Banking companies, insurance companies, power companies and NBFCs registered with RBI are exempted from XBRL filing for this financial year as separate taxonomies are under development for these type of companies.

7. Whether the instance documents attached with Form 23AC-XBRL and Form23ACA-XBRL needs to be digitally signed. If yes, by whom?

No, the instance documents attached with Forms are not required to be digitally signed. Only the e-Forms 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA-XBRL need to be digitally signed by the authorized signatories of the company. Also note that the forms are also required to be certified by a practicing professional (i.e. a member of ICAI/ ICSI/ ICWAI).

8. What shall be the process for uploading the filled Form 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA-XBRL on MCA portal?

The process for uploading the filled Form 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA- XBRL is same as the existing process for uploading the Form 23AC and Form 23ACA on the MCA portal.

9. How to view the balance sheet and profit and loss A/C submitted in XBRL format on MCA Portal?

A system converted PDF document is available for viewing the XBRL balance sheet and profit and loss account in human readable format. Please click on the category ‘Annual Returns and balance sheet Attachment’ while using the ‘View Public Documents’ facility available on the MCA21 portal for viewing the same.

(ii)  FAQs for FY 2011-12 and onwards

(a) Policy specific FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Policy_specific_FAQs.html

1. Which companies are required to file their financial statements in XBRL?

The following class of companies shall file their financial statements and other documents under section 137 of the Act with the Registrar in e-form AOC-4 XBRL:-

1. (i) companies listed with stock exchanges in India and their Indian subsidiaries;
2. (ii) companies having paid up capital of five crore rupees or above;
3. (iii) companies having turnover of one hundred crore rupees or above;
4. (iv) all companies which are required to prepare their financial statements in accordance with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015:

Provided further that non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies and companies engaged in the business of banking and insurance sector are exempted from filing of financial statements under these rules”

2. If the subsidiary Company’s paid up capital is less than Rupees 5 Crore, then I want to know whether its financial statements are to be filed in XBRL.

Indian subsidiaries of a listed company are required to file in XBRL format, irrespective of their paid up capital or turnover.

3. Whether details of all subsidiaries need to be mentioned in instance document of holding company? How financial statements of subsidiaries need to be attached with the instance document of the holding company for compliance under section 212 of the Companies Act, 1956?

If the holding company is mandated to file in XBRL, details of all subsidiaries (including foreign subsidiaries) need to be given as per “Notes – Subsidiary information” in the XBRL instance document of the holding company.

In case of Indian subsidiaries, their financial statements are not required to be separately attached in the e-form of the holding company. SRN details of the (e-Form 23AC or e-Form 23AC-XBRL)/AOC-4 XBRL, as applicable, filed by Indian subsidiary needs to be mentioned in the instance document of the holding company. In case these e-Forms have not been filed by Indian subsidiaries, then reason of not filing also needs to be provided (For e.g: Different financial year followed by subsidiary, Extension of Financial Year or AGM taken by subsidiary, etc.)

In case of foreign subsidiaries, annual accounts need to be attached as a separate PDF document in the e-Form 23AC-XBRL/AOC-4 XBRL of the holding company. In the XBRL document, in the element, you may mention ‘Whether subsidiary has filed balance sheet’ as NO and reason for not filing can be mentioned as ‘Not applicable as it is a foreign subsidiary’.

Note: Attaching of annual accounts of foreign subsidiaries is not required in case exemption u/s 212 of the Companies Act, 1956/section 129 of Companies act 2013 has been taken by the holding company.

4. The company is having ‘Unclassified Shares’ in the financial statements as on the balance sheet date. Where should the same be included while preparing financial statements in XBRL mode?

There is no separate element for unclassified shares in the taxonomy. It needs to be provided either as equity or preference shares only. Necessary details/ clarifications can be provided as a footnote.

5. What is the due date to file AOC-4 XBRL with & without additional fee ?

• Due date for filing of AOC-XBRL (IND AS) is extended upto 31th Mar 2018 for FY 2016-17.

6. Whether all NBFCs are exempted from XBRL filings? Whether Housing Finance Companies are also exempted from XBRL filings this year?

All NBFCs (including Housing Financing Company) that are registered with RBI or exempt from registration with RBI but registered with other regulators like SEBI, IRDA, National Housing Bank, etc. are exempted from XBRL filings.

7. Whether Gross Turnover (i.e., inclusive of duties and taxes) are to be considered for determining Rs. 100 crores turnover threshold of companies for XBRL filing, or the Net Turnover (i.e., exclusive of duties and taxes) is to be considered?

Gross turnover (i.e. inclusive of duties and taxes) is to be considered for determining Rs. 100 crores turnover threshold for eligibility of a company for XBRL filings.

8. Whether power companies qualify for exemption to file their financials in XBRL for FY 2016-17, even if they prepare their financial statements as per Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956/ Schedule III of Companies Act 2013?

Power Sector Companies are excluded from exemption list vide Companies (Filing of Documents and Forms in Extensible Business Reporting Language), Amendment, Rules, 2017 Dated 6th November 2017. So all Power Sector companies are now required to file their financials and other documents as per XBRL Taxonomy.

9. Whether we have to file the consolidated financials or the standalone financials of the Holding Company? Whether it would be suffice if the company files the consolidated financials alone in XBRL format?

Standalone financial statement of the holding company is to be filed mandatorily in XBRL. It will also contain details on information of its subsidiaries. Consolidated financials, if applicable, may also be filed with MCA as the taxonomy has elements for consolidation as well.

10. In the Information for related parties, there is a related party company that has become related in the current year itself. What information shall be provided in respect of such a related party company for the previous year as it was not a related party for the previous year?

The details in ‘Notes – Related party’ are applicable for the previous year in case the same are entered for the current year. However, in case the related party was not a related party in the previous year then, the company can enter zero (0) in respect of the financial elements for that related party. In element for CIN of related party, CIN as per the current year should be entered. Suitable footnote with respect to the same should also be included in the instance document.

Above shall also be applicable for cases where the related party was related for the previous year and is no more a related party in the current year.

(b) Taxonomy specific FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Taxonoy_FAQs.html

1. Please give proper understanding on XBRL Taxonomy. Why does the excel file contain five sheets.

XBRL is an XML-based technology standard that improves the way financial information is created, processed, distributed and analysed. XBRL uses “tags” that package information such as definitions, labels, references and time period around individual accounting concept. In other words, XBRL is a collection of standardized, machine-readable “tags” for line items in financial statements.

Taxonomies capture the definition of individual reporting accounting concepts as well as the relationships between various concepts. .

The taxonomy comprises of the following components:-

• Schema –The purpose of XBRL schemas is to define taxonomy elements (concepts) and give each concept a name and define its characteristics. It can be regarded as a container where elements and references to “linkbase” files are defined.
• Presentation linkbase –Business reports are in general organized into identifiable data structures e.g. a Balance Sheet. The presentation linkbase stores information about relationships between elements in order to properly organize the taxonomy content. This enables a taxonomy user to view a one dimensional representation of the elements. Defines the structure for displaying the data, along with the preferred label attribute.
• Calculation linkbase –The calculation linkbase defines basic calculation validation rules (addition/subtraction), which must apply for all instances of the taxonomy. establishes the arithmetical relationship of simple addition and subtraction, which is done by way of a weight attribute (1 or -1). The idea of a calculation linkbase is to improve quality of an XBRL report (XBRL instance).
• Reference linkbase-Most of the elements appearing in taxonomies refer to particular concepts defined by authoritative literature. The reference linkbase stores the relationships between elements and the references.
• Definition linkbase-The Definition linkbase stores other pre-defined or self-defined relationships between elements. For example a relationship can be defined that the occurrence of one concept within an XBRL instance mandates the occurrence of other concepts.
• Label linkbase –XBRL report presented in different languages, etc requires the taxonomies to represent business data in multiple languages. Therefore it is possible to create an element (concept) in the taxonomy with labels in different languages and or for different purposes e.g. a short label PPE compared to its long label Property, plant and equipment. Those labels are stored and linked to their respective elements in a label linkbase.

XBRL Schemas together with linkbases define an XBRL taxonomy.

Please refer to C&I Taxonomy Architecture Guide 2012 on the MCA XBRL website for more technical details on XBRL.

2. There are various kinds of files in the taxonomy folder published on the MCA XBRL portal. What are these?

The taxonomy actually consists of XML and XSD files that are to be used by XBRL software to prepare/validate an instance document. Accordingly, XML and XSD file are to be used only by XBRL Software Vendors. The information contained in these XML and XSD files (taxonomy) have also been presented in ‘human-readable’ excel format for understanding of taxonomy to companies and professionals. For more details on the taxonomy, please visit the MCA XBRL portal.

3. What is new Ind-AS taxonomy for filings of financial statement?

The new Ind AS taxonomy is based up on Indian Accounting Standard issued by ICAI and is applicable for companies preparing their financial statements for accounting year commencing on or after 01.04.2015. All companies, who have prepared their financial statement as per Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS) shall use the new Ind AS taxonomy for filing their XBRL documents.

4. What are the changes in the Ind AS Taxonomy vis-à-vis C&I Taxonomy?

In view of the applicability of the Indian Accounting Standard issued by ICAI, the recognition, presentation and disclosure of financial statement prepared for accounting year commencing on or after 01.04.2015 has undergone a change. Consequently, the MCA taxonomy (based upon Ind AS) has also been developed afresh. The broad differences between the Ind AS Taxonomy (based upon new Indian Accounting Standard) vis-à-vis earlier C&I Taxonomy (based upon Accounting Standard) are as follows:

1. The IND AS Taxonomy is based on the requirements of newly issued Indian Accounting Standard.
2. Requirements of new additional disclosures are also included.
3. The architecture of the taxonomy has undergone various changes with the increase in number of elements by approximately 64%. More number of tables and residuary elements have been introduced to the taxonomy. The count of whether elements have increased corresponding to the applicability of the tabular data.
4. Formula linkbase have also been developed to the Taxonomy to validate the relationship in XBRL monetary elements for the sum of Opening Balance and the corresponding changes entered during the year should match the Ending Balance for that year.
5. The concept of ‘dimensions’ has been introduced in the taxonomy as against ‘tuples’.

(c) Stakeholders queries

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Stakeholder_FAQs.html

1. In case consolidation is applicable for current financial year and not applicable for the previous year, then how to file consolidated XBRL instance document?

With respect to consolidated financial statements, if consolidation is not applicable for previous year, then consolidated financial statements of current year is to be attached in pdf format only. In this case only standalone financial statement is to be attached in XBRL mode.

Similarly, if consolidation is applicable only for previous year and not for current year, then consolidated financial statements of previous year to be attached in pdf format and standalone financial statement is to be attached in XBRL mode. In such case, select ‘NO’ in the field ‘Whether consolidated balance sheet is also being filed’ and provide the consolidated financials in pdf format as an ‘optional attachment’.

2. Whether previous e-Forms 23AC and 23ACA are still in existence for filing Balance Sheet, etc. in XBRL or non-XBRL format?

Form 23AC and 23ACA shall continue to be there for filing by companies to which XBRL filing is not applicable; and for filing of earlier year’s documents. New e-forms 23AC and 23ACA have been notified for filing of financial statements for accounting year commencing before and after 01.04.2011 (i.e., application of new Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956). The e-forms 23AC-XBRL and 23ACA-XBRL notified on 05.10.2011 would be used for filing of XBRL documents by eligible companies.

3. How to upload the XBRL document?

A detailed Filing Manual has been prepared to that explains various steps needed for successful filing of XBRL document by a company. Filing Manual for relevant year is available on the MCA XBRL portal.

4. In case of a new company, the first auditors are appointed by the directors, not the shareholders. As such, there will be no SRN number for the appointment of the auditor. In such cases, what shall be mentioned as SRN of Form 23B in the XBRL document for the balance sheet?

With respect to SRN of Form-23B (for appointment of auditor), where the information by auditor to ROC is not required to be filed, Z99999999 may be entered in XBRL document. Please note that use of this default ‘Z99999999’ should be supported by providing on adequate footnote.

5. In case of a Government Company, the shares are held by the Government of India in the name of the Hon’ble President of India. As per the Business Rules, either CIN of shareholder or PAN of shareholder is Mandatory in case Country of incorporation or residence of shareholder is India. Please guide us, what should be put in PAN in such cases?

In the given case, a dummy PAN ‘AAAAA9999A’ maybe used. Please note that use of this default ‘AAAAA9999A’ should be supported by providing on adequate footnote.

6. Is voluntary filing of financial statements in XBRL for the Year 2011-12 encouraged for companies outside the class of companies mandated vide MCA General Circular No: 16/2012 dated 06.07.2012 and/or Notification dated 05.10.2011?

Yes, voluntary XBRL filing by companies is encouraged, and such a company need not file the Financial Statements in PDF Format.

7. The XBRL instance document of by company has passed MCA XBRL Validation Tool. Does this mean that I can certify/authenticate this document while attaching the same in e-form without any further verification?

No, the MCA XBRL Validation Tool is only one level of verifying the correctness & completeness of XBRL document filed by a company. Before certification or verification of the XBRL document on e-form by company and professional, it is important to ensure that disclosures provided in the XBRL documents are same as the financial statements adopted in the AGM of the company in all material aspects. In other words, a mere successful validation of an XBRL document through MCA Validation Tool does not imply that compliance under section 220 of the Companies Act, 1956/section 137 of Companies Act,2013 has been achieved.

8. How do I ensure that the XBRL document filed by my company is correct and complete, and it is in accordance with requirements of section 220 of the Companies Act, 1956/section 137 of Companies Act,2013?

The MCA XBRL Validation Tool also provides for a printable ‘human-readable’ pdf version of the XBRL document prepared by you. You shall ensure that disclosures in this pdf file are as per the adopted and published financial statement of the company in all material aspects. You may however note that due to XBRL taxonomy, HTML guidelines, etc., the display/presentation of these disclosures may not exactly match with those in published financial statements of the company. Such variations in human-readable’ pdf version of the XBRL document and published financial statements of the company are unavoidable, and thus permitted.

9. What is meant by good quality of XBRL filings?

Although XBRL improves the quality of financial reporting by companies, an XBRL document may still be successfully ‘validated’ by the MCA Validation Tool even if the disclosures contained in it are not as per adopted financial statement of the company, and/or inappropriate usage of taxonomy elements, footnotes, text-block tagging, etc. It may be noted that the Ministry has identified few cases of ‘poor’ quality XBRL filings and measures are being contemplated against responsible companies/professionals. The quality of XBRL filings from FY 2011-12 would also be minutely watched by the Ministry and thus companies/professionals are advised to ensure that their XBRL filings presents a true and fair view of state of affairs of the company.

(d) Filing Related FAQs

http://mca.gov.in/XBRL/Filing_FAQs.html

1. I would like to know, whether the XBRL software has to be purchased from separate vendors and then installed in our computers or MCA itself will provide us with the software. Which agency should I approach to get the XBRL software?

XBRL instance document creation software has to be purchased from the software vendors in the market. This software is used to create XBRL instance documents that would be uploaded on the MCA portal. Stakeholders may check whether the software is compliant with the Business Rules published by the MCA. MCA will provide a Validation Tool to provide a facility for validation of the instance document and filing of the same on the MCA Website. However, please note that MCA is not recommending any specific XBRL software.

2. I am interested in taking training for filing in XBRL format. Kindly advice.

ICAI, which is assisting MCA with conduct of XBRL training, has been instructed to develop standard Training module as well identify resource persons in consultation with XBRL training partners located at different parts on the country. Leading Chambers of industry and Professional Institutes, namely, ICWAI and ICSI are also conducting XBRL training in coordination with MCA. Training will be held over the next few months in most leading cities of India. Details of the same will be available on website http://www.mca.gov.in/XBRL/. Professional Institutes, viz., ICAI, ICSI & ICWAI have also been advised to develop MCA XBRL filing related relevant resource materials.

3. How to retype ‘Notes to Accounts and Statements’ in XBRL document?

XBRL allows for reporting textual information by a company. Textual information like Director’s Report, Auditor Report, etc. can be provided in XBRL by using the HTML guidelines and detailed tagging requirements. HTML guidelines, which are required to be adhered, have been provided in the ‘Filing Manual’. Ideally, such technical requirements shall be catered by the XBRL instance document creation software.

4. Is it necessary to tag all the amount in non-current investment and current investment note by creating member for eg. Equity investment company-wise or just to tag the broader categories such as Equity investment Member, Investment in bonds Member, etc. and to map the total amount in respective category?

Investments need to be tagged in detail. These should not be tagged using broader categories. Please see the level and scope of tagging requirements mentioned on the MCA XBRL portal for details.

5. Whether company has to Block tag all accounting policies related to the Balance Sheet & Profit Loss Statement at one place or separately in different ELRs since there are specific Text Block Tag available in respected ELR of schedules?

All the significant accounting policies can be block tagged at one place as appearing in the published financial statements. Further the textual elements which are mandatory as per the MCA Business Rules need to be tagged individually as well.

6. In the notes-related party, there are two elements namely, whether the company is subsidiary company and the section under which the company is subsidiary. How can we enter the name of the holding company?

In the “Disclosure of transactions between related parties [Table]”, details including name, CIN, etc. of all the related parties including holding companies need to be given.

7. Please elaborate the concept of Product/Service Category required to be provided as General Information of the Company.

The Product/Service category of a company provides useful information about the economic sector/segment in which the company is operating. This information has important usage in macro-economic analysis of the economy as well as policy making in the larger public interest. This information may be used for providing incentives like subsidy, tax-break, etc to companies for improving their profitability, etc.

Details are to be provided in following manner:

Case I: Total number of product category(s) – 3

Case II- Total number of service category(s) – 2

Note: Please refer to ‘Indian Trade Classification‘ based on harmonized commodity description and coding system issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for Product Codes and National Product Classification for Services (NPCS) for Services codes issued by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Government of India.

Details of ITC and NPCS codes are also available on MCA-XBRL portal under the head ‘Important Downloads’