The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) yesterday launched a service to exploit its vast repository of close to 100,000 company filings in the new XBRL financial reporting language.

The Open Analytics Web-based software (developed with WHK Horwath, an Australian firm) will allow anyone to view and analyse financial statements that have been filed by Singapore companies with Acra in the new language since 2007.

Acra said the system went live yesterday. Subscribers will be charged from $49 for a year's access to data on a single company to $950 for a comparative analysis of all companies within a specified industry sector.

At present, Acra produces company reports and financial statements for a statutory fee of $25 per company. Other reports can cost upwards of $30, with a customised package costing over $1,000.

Acra deputy chief executive Ow Fook Chuen said Acra is open to working with other private sector partners to find commercial uses for its database of corporate filings. Acra and WHK Horwath have a revenue- sharing agreement in place but the main purpose of Open Analytics is to enhance financial information flow, Mr Ow said.

The tool is the first such launched by a national corporate registry in the world, said Peter Ong, chairman of Acra. 'With the advent of Open Analytics, resources traditionally deployed to compile data can be better utilised to perform higher value-added tasks such as business analysis,' he said.

'In its role as a corporate registry, Acra sees itself as a content provider of Singapore corporate financials, continuously facilitating an informed business ecosystem.'

The tool is available at