28-09-2020
In a new initiative aims to reinforce transparency and quality disclosure in the Qatari financial market, Qatar Stock Exchange ‘QSE’ confirmed today that its new platform ‘Q-Disclosure’, XBRL-based, will go live on 1st October 2020.
With the launch of the new platform and downloading the financial data (annual, semi-annual and quarterly), and other non-financial data, i.e. corporate news, corporate events and other regulatory disclosures deem necessary by the market using XBRL, the market will gradually transit from the trial phase to the compulsory implementation as per the time schedules prior approved.
The Extensible Business Reporting Language ‘XBRL’ is considered as the result of an increased move towards a unified global electronic financial reporting standards allowing automated and efficient retrieval of the financial information. This language has been adopted and developed by a non-profit international ally consisting of more than 650 international companies and governmental bodies. The XBRL language has also been adopted by the international accounting standards institutions, regulatory bodies as well as the banking sector worldwide.
The disclosure system based on XBRL language is used either mandatory or voluntarily in an increasing number of countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, Turkey, China, France, Germany, Israel, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Japan and the United States.
In view of the increasing requirements of the investment community and the importance of speed and punctuality in providing information; The need arise for adopting standardized methods and mechanisms for preparing and presenting financial and non-financial statements of listed companies has emerged in a globally acceptable manner. As such, most financial markets have required listed companies to prepare their disclosures using the XBRL electronic disclosure language as an international standard for presenting financial reports and non-financial information that enables investors of all languages to read this information and use it in an easy and fast manner.
Rashid Al Mansoori commented: “The benefits of XBRL are well established but for Qatar and listed companies we emphasise the need to be following best practices increasingly demanded by the investment community. The listed company itself will have complete verifiable control of standard documents simplifying the financial reporting process and standardising the regulatory disclosure process.”
The system will be a web-based solution, available in Arabic and English, fully aligned with IFRS and designed with sector specific taxonomy for Banks & Financials, Insurance (Commercial and Islamic), Real Estate and Other (to cover Consumer, Industrials, Telecoms and Transportation).
Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, Listing Director at QSE added “Listed companies and their auditors have had nearly eleven months to prepare, test and familiarise themselves with Q-Disclosure and each listed company has had the opportunity to go through at least 2 reporting cycles before the Q3 2020 deadline. We have also taken the opportunity to listen to feedback during the UAT phase. We believe as a market we are well prepared and we look forward to the Q-Disclosure Platform adding value in part through the standardization of information across companies and sectors.”
Rashid Al Mansoori concluded: “We believe adoption by listed companies will improve the transparency of our markets and alongside previous initiatives such as the IR Rules, ESG Guidelines and increased coverage by LPs should over time deliver more liquidity to the benefit of all stakeholders.”