South Korea’s XBRL implementation finalised
A few weeks ago we reported that the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in Korea was looking to increase the scope of XBRL in financial disclosure to align with global standards and improve market transparency. On 30 March, these plans were finalised.
The Korean authorities will require non-financial public companies to commence disclosure of the notes to the accounts in XBRL starting this year, with certain unlisted companies also obliged to start to disclose their accounts in XBRL.
The FSS will gradually expand mandatory XBRL tagging in the coming years, and will provide a range of education and assistance to companies that come to these requirements for the first time.
Expanding the use of XBRL is expected to reduce information asymmetry and lower financial analysis expenses. Foreign investors will have access to financial statements and their accompanying notes in structured form as soon as periodic reports are published, promoting greater transparency.
The FSS expects that by increasing the scope of XBRL, the Korean market will further gain global trust and enhance transparency, which should help address the ‘Korea discount problem’ where the country’s stock market has traditionally been undervalued compared to other markets.
Read more here or here (in Korean, so have your choice of in-browser translation at the ready).
