The MCA mandate is out and all companies are in a ‘searching’ mode of how to comply with the mandate.

Predominantly there are 2 options – buy software, learn the skill and do the tagging yourself, or give your annual return to a ‘conversion’ specialist. The conversion specialist will convert it for you and give it to you. Once it is converted, you have to get the document certified by an accounting professional, and then file it with the RoC.

I had done an earlier post saying ‘what should be the features of the software that you buy’. Today we will look at what should be the features that you look for with a conversion services provider.

Here are the MINIMUM features that you should look for in a ‘conversion services’ provider:

1.    Size of the operations: Is it a mom-pop shop, or it has enough number of people in the organization who are capable of handling the work given to them. There should be an office that has infrastructure, people, back up, etc. so that they can be trusted upon to deliver. If you have 100 companies to outsource, please visit the place where they are going to do it, and reassure yourself that they will be able to deliver on / before the due date.
2.    A good service provider should be able to deliver a validated document (i.e. ready for filing) document. It is great if they have a validator through which the document has been passed. If they do not have their own validator (which means they have not built one) you will have to depend on the validator on the MCA site.
3.    Have they created documents for ANY regulator i.e. do they know the ropes of the business – it could be RBI, SEBI, HMRC, SEC,..some experience somewhere is of great re-assurance.
4.    Will they give you the xbrl document, and another document in human readable form?
5.    Will they interact with you about the tag selection and will you be allowed to make some changes?
6.    Will they have a relationship manager who can explain what is done to the Chartered Accountant who is going to certify the document. It could be a CA, CS or a CWA who is doing the certificate.

7.    Will it be easy for YOU and YOUR Chartered Accountant to reconcile the figures from the document that your statutory auditor has signed and the xbrl document created for the MCA filing? Ask for sample documents.

8.    Will there be break up details of the clubbing, re grouping etc. so that there is some kind of an audit trail?

Check out all this….before you say yes, I do!

There is no point in going to some service provider who tells you one 29th November, ‘Sir…nahi ho raha hai’…L O L