Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS) basics — Documents required and templates

Singapore Financial Reporting Standards are the accounting standards that every Singapore-incorporated company applies to prepare its financial statements, and complying with them means assembling a specific set of supporting schedules and working papers, not just producing a final balance sheet. This article sets out the documents, disclosure templates and workings a company needs to prepare SFRS-compliant financial statements.

Raffles Corporate Services works with a panel of corporate and employment law firms; this article is general information, not legal advice.

What Singapore Financial Reporting Standards require

Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS) are issued by the Accounting Standards Committee and are substantially converged with International Financial Reporting Standards, so financial statements prepared under SFRS are comparable with those of international peers. Section 201 of the Companies Act 1967 requires directors to lay financial statements before the company that comply with the accounting standards prescribed for the purposes of the Act, which in practice means SFRS or, for qualifying small companies, SFRS for Small Entities. Two frameworks exist: full SFRS, and the simplified SFRS for Small Entities (SFRS for SE) available to companies that are not publicly accountable and meet the relevant size thresholds.

Compliance is demonstrated through documentation, not just the final figures — a reviewer or auditor needs to see the workings behind each number and each disclosure, which is what this article focuses on.

Who this is for

This guide is for finance managers, company secretaries and directors of Singapore private companies who are preparing or reviewing financial statements — whether prepared in-house, by an outsourced accountant, or by an auditor. It is equally relevant to a company applying SFRS for Small Entities for the first time and to a growing company that is about to exceed the small-entity thresholds and must move to full SFRS.

Documents and templates required for SFRS-compliant financial statements

Preparing financial statements under SFRS or SFRS for SE requires the following documents and templates, in addition to the trial balance itself:

• Trial balance and general ledger detail — the starting point, reconciled to all subledgers (debtors, creditors, fixed assets, bank).
• A disclosure checklist template mapped to the applicable framework (full SFRS or SFRS for SE), used to confirm every required note has been addressed.
• Revenue recognition workings showing how revenue was measured and the point at which control transferred to the customer, particularly for contracts spanning more than one reporting period.
• Fixed-asset and depreciation schedules reconciling opening balances, additions, disposals, depreciation charge and closing net book value by asset class.
• Related-party transaction schedule, listing transactions with directors, shareholders and related entities, required to be disclosed regardless of which framework applies.
• Leases schedule, where the company leases premises or equipment, showing right-of-use assets and lease liabilities where SFRS(I) 16 or the equivalent SFRS for SE treatment applies.
• Financial instruments and impairment workings, including an expected credit loss calculation for trade receivables.
• Directors’ statement and statement of financial position templates, formatted to the disclosures required under the Twelfth Schedule to the Companies Act 1967.
• Prior-year comparatives and a reconciliation of any restatements, since SFRS requires comparative figures for most primary statements and notes.

Full SFRS vs SFRS for Small Entities — numerical thresholds

A company qualifies to apply SFRS for Small Entities if it is not publicly accountable and meets at least two of three size criteria: total annual revenue of not more than S$10 million, total gross assets of not more than S$10 million, and no more than 50 employees. A company that exceeds these thresholds, or that is publicly accountable (for example because it has issued debt or equity instruments to the public), must apply full SFRS, which carries materially more extensive disclosure and measurement requirements, particularly around financial instruments, leases and revenue recognition.

Choosing the wrong framework, or drifting from SFRS for SE into full-SFRS territory without noticing (typically because revenue or headcount has grown), is one of the more common year-end surprises for growing SMEs, so the thresholds should be checked every financial year, not assumed to still apply from the year of incorporation.

What the key templates actually contain

The disclosure checklist template is typically organised standard-by-standard (revenue, leases, financial instruments, related parties, income taxes and so on), with a column confirming whether the disclosure is applicable, where it appears in the draft financial statements, and who reviewed it. The fixed-asset and depreciation schedule should reconcile by asset class — property, plant, equipment, right-of-use assets — showing opening cost and accumulated depreciation, additions, disposals, the current year’s charge, and closing net book value, so the balance-sheet figure and the depreciation expense in the income statement are both directly traceable. The related-party schedule should capture the nature of the relationship, the type of transaction (loans, management fees, rent, sales or purchases), the amount for the year, and any outstanding balance at year end, since both the transaction and the balance typically require separate disclosure. A revenue recognition working, particularly for service companies or those with multi-period contracts, should show the performance obligations identified, the transaction price allocated to each, and the point or pattern over which revenue is recognised.

None of these templates need to be elaborate — a well-structured spreadsheet is sufficient — but they need to exist as discrete, reviewable documents rather than being embedded only in the final financial statements draft, so that a director, auditor or successor preparer can see the workings behind each number.

Cost and timeline

Preparing SFRS for Small Entities financial statements for a straightforward trading company typically costs from around S$800 to S$2,500 depending on transaction complexity, while full SFRS financial statements for a larger or more complex entity can run from S$3,000 upward, reflecting the additional disclosure notes and technical workings required. From a clean, reconciled trial balance, financial statements preparation typically takes 1 to 3 weeks; where an audit is also required, add a further 2 to 6 weeks for audit fieldwork and clearance of review points. Financial statements must be ready in time for the Annual General Meeting (or the written resolution deadline for companies that have dispensed with AGMs) and, in turn, for the Annual Return to be filed with ACRA — most private companies must hold their AGM within 6 months of financial year end and file the Annual Return within 7 months.

Worked example — checking the small-entity thresholds

Consider a Singapore trading company with annual revenue of S$8.5 million, total gross assets of S$6.2 million and 42 employees at financial year end. It meets two of the three SFRS for Small Entities criteria (revenue under S$10 million and gross assets under S$10 million, with headcount also under 50), so it qualifies to apply the simplified framework provided it is not otherwise publicly accountable. If the same company’s revenue grew to S$11 million the following year while gross assets and headcount stayed broadly flat, it would now meet only one of the three thresholds and would need to move to full SFRS for that financial year — with the additional disclosures on financial instruments, leases and revenue that full SFRS requires. This is why the thresholds should be tested every year using that year’s actual figures, not assumed to carry over from the prior year’s classification.

Step-by-step process to prepare SFRS-compliant financial statements

1. Confirm which framework applies by testing the company against the SFRS for Small Entities size thresholds for the current financial year.
2. Close the general ledger and reconcile every balance-sheet account to its subledger or supporting schedule.
3. Prepare the supporting schedules listed above — fixed assets, leases, related parties, revenue recognition and financial instruments.
4. Draft the primary statements — statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows — using the reconciled trial balance.
5. Work through the disclosure checklist to confirm every required note under the applicable framework is included and consistent with the primary statements.
6. Prepare the directors’ statement under Section 201 of the Companies Act 1967, confirming the financial statements give a true and fair view.
7. Circulate for director and, where applicable, auditor review, before the financial statements are laid at the AGM or circulated for members’ written resolution.

Common mistakes and gotchas

• Applying SFRS for SE after the company has grown past the thresholds. Revenue or headcount growth during the year can silently push a company into full-SFRS territory; this should be re-tested every year, not assumed.
• Missing the related-party disclosure schedule. Transactions with directors or shareholders are commonly under-recorded during the year and only surface at financial statements preparation, causing late scrambling for supporting documents.
• No lease schedule for office or equipment leases, resulting in an incomplete or incorrect right-of-use asset and lease liability at year end.
• Treating the disclosure checklist as optional. Skipping it is the most common cause of incomplete notes flagged during an audit or ACRA review.
• Inconsistent comparatives. Prior-year figures in the current financial statements must match the prior year’s filed financial statements exactly, including any restatements, which are themselves required to be disclosed.
• Leaving financial statements preparation to the last two weeks before the AGM deadline, which compresses review time and increases the risk of disclosure gaps.
• No named owner for the disclosure checklist. Without a single person accountable for working through it line by line, items are assumed to be “someone else’s” and get missed.
• Ignoring subsequent events between year end and sign-off. Material events occurring after the financial year end but before the financial statements are authorised for issue may still require disclosure or adjustment under SFRS.

Related guides

For the tax treatment that follows from your SFRS-compliant accounts, see our cross-site guide on FRS 12 Income Taxes: Deferred Tax for Singapore SMEs, which explains how accounting profit under SFRS reconciles to taxable income. Companies weighing headcount against their small-entity thresholds should also see our cross-site note on the S Pass quota, levy and skills-based assessment eligibility and requirements checklist, since employee counts feed into both work-pass planning and the SFRS for SE size test. For the eligibility criteria behind these frameworks in more depth, see our companion article Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS) basics — Eligibility and requirements checklist.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (iras.gov.sg) publishes guidance on how accounting figures feed into the tax computation, and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (acra.gov.sg) is the primary regulator for financial reporting and Annual Return filing obligations.

FAQs

Do all Singapore companies need an audit under SFRS?
No. Small companies that meet the audit exemption criteria under the Companies Act 1967 are not required to have their financial statements audited, though they must still be prepared in accordance with the applicable SFRS framework.

What is the difference between SFRS and SFRS for Small Entities?
SFRS for Small Entities is a simplified framework with reduced disclosure and measurement requirements, available to companies that are not publicly accountable and meet at least two of the three size thresholds (S$10 million revenue, S$10 million gross assets, 50 employees). Full SFRS applies to larger and publicly accountable entities and requires substantially more extensive disclosures.

Which template should I start with if I have never prepared SFRS financial statements before?
Start with a disclosure checklist for the applicable framework and a trial balance reconciled to all subledgers; these two documents drive every other schedule and note that follows.

Do dormant companies still need SFRS-compliant financial statements?
Generally yes, though dormant companies may qualify for relief from preparing financial statements in specific circumstances — this should be checked against the company’s actual facts rather than assumed.

How often do the SFRS for Small Entities thresholds need to be checked?
Every financial year. A company that exceeded the thresholds during the year, even briefly, should reassess whether it still qualifies for the simplified framework before financial statements are finalised.

Who prepares these disclosure schedules — the company or the auditor?
The company (or its outsourced accountant) is responsible for preparing the financial statements and supporting schedules in the first instance; an auditor, where one is appointed, then tests those schedules and the underlying records rather than preparing them from scratch. Having complete templates ready before audit fieldwork begins materially shortens the audit.

Need help with this? Call, SMS or WhatsApp +65 8501 7133, or email [email protected]. Raffles Corporate Services works with a panel of corporate and employment law firms; this article is general information, not legal advice.