The corporate affairs ministry has said a final glossary and classification of terms related to the implementation of a computer language used for reporting financial statements will be circulated by 20 May.

The ministry had earlier sought public comments on a draft glossary and classification--or taxonomy--developed by it with the help of accounting regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

It announced the date for publishing the final taxonomy through a notification on its website on Monday.

"The ministry is committed to timely implementation of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), and finalizing a taxonomy and business rules will help crystallize the initiative," said D.K. Mittal, secretary at the corporate affairs ministry.

Migrating to XBRL will help companies report their accounts based on standards similar to the International Financial Reporting Standards notified by the ministry in February.

Companies will also be spared from making separate filings with other regulators and stock exchanges as a common database will be created.

The ministry, in turn, will have a tool to easily detect fraud and inadequate data filed by companies and take remedial measures.

Filing in XBRL has been made mandatory for all publicly traded companies and their units and those that have revenue of '100 core or more or paid-up capital of '5 core in the first phase. Use of the computer language will later be applicable to all 900,000 companies registered in India.

The ministry cautioned companies against buying accounting software before final rules are put in place, to avoid inconvenience.

Every country has its own set of taxonomy and business rules, and software thus sold has to abide by these concepts.

The first phase of XBRL filing of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts for the year ended 31 March can continue until September without the payment of a late fee, an earlier ministry circular had said.

Oracle India Pvt. Ltd, SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd, IRIS Business Services Ltd, Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd and Softpark 21 are among vendors that will be selling software to companies implementing XBRL in different stages.

The ministry's advice on not buying software till the rules are finalized has got a mixed response from vendors, with some saying this will delay the process of implementation.

"XBRL implementation requires substantial preparedness within companies starting from internal training of accounting staff, doing test runs, readying detailed reports etc for which early access to software is a must," said Arun Bhatnagar, chief executive officer, Softpark 21. "This announcement made by the ministry may unnecessarily delay the process." Bhatnagar suggested the ministry should rather provide for a gateway and validation tools, which will filter software that do not comply with the requirements.

A top official of another vendor disagrees. "The software has to be specific to Indian taxonomy, which is still being finalized," he said. "As a regulator the ministry of corporate affairs is doing the right thing by cautioning companies as all kinds of software can float in the market. Companies will repent if they realize they have not bought the right ones." The official declined to be identified.