The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has unveiled an Electronic Filing System (EFS) for financial statements by registered entities in continuation of its reform initiatives.
The Registrar-General of CAC, Garba Abubakar said this at the unveiling of the platform to customers and stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday.
The unveiling was during a one-day Enlightenment/Sensitisation Training on “Beneficial Ownership Information Disclosure and Annual Return Electronic Filling System”.
The event was organised by the CAC for customers and stakeholders.
According to him, the platform will be available from Monday.
Abubakar said that the accounting software was coined from the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) standard in line with global best practices.
He highlighted the reform initiatives of the commission since his assumption of office, adding that the CAC would continue to leverage technology to offer prompt and efficient services.
Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of Centrifuge Information Technology Ltd., Damilola Awe, also a software developer, described EFS as an online account filing system by CAC
He said that the EFS was supported by European Union Agent for Citizens Transformation (EU-ACT) for regulated entities such as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), integrated trustees, private limited liability companies, and other business entities.
Awe said the EFS was an offshoot (a module or feature addition) of the parent software Company Registration Portal (CRP) that allows annual financial statement filings electronically.
He said that the EFS followed global standards for filing financial statements as obtained by other countries regulators like the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), in the UK, U.S. and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among others.
According to Awe, the EFS leverages on a bleeding-edge technology called XBRL.
Awe said that the EFS would enable the CAC to enforce regulatory compliance by ensuring that financial statements of account were correctly filed.
He said that it would also allow business organisations to file their annual accounts and financial statements electronically.
Awe further said that statement of financial position, profit and loss, and the ability to generate the benefits of EFS.
He listed other benefits of the EFS to include downloadable financial documents that conform to global standards
Some stakeholders and customers who spoke at the event lauded the CAC, and expressed optimism that the new system would improve their interface with the commission.
