XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language and is a technology for tagging data in order to identify and describe the information within an organization’s financial statements. It is the standard for digital business reporting managed by a global not for profit consortium, XBRL International. With XBRL reporting, data is machine-readable, can be searched, downloaded into spreadsheets, and reorganized for analysis rapidly, accurately, and digitally. Regulators like the SEC require XBRL in order to look for statistical anomalies that may indicate abnormal accounting practices. Often referred to as “bar codes for reporting,” XBRL makes financial reporting more accurate and efficient by allowing tags to be associated with reported facts.
Clear Definitions – XBRL facilitates the creation of reusable, authoritative definitions, called taxonomies. These taxonomies capture the meaning of all reporting terms used within a business report, as well as how those terms interact with each other. These taxonomies make up the “language” of XBRL which is unlimited in its ability to grow and expand as needed.
Multi-lingual Support – Concept definition, or taxonomies, can be prepared in as many languages as necessary. Translations of definitions can be added by third parties. This means that organizations have the ability to display a broad range of reports in different definitions than the reports were prepared in.
Increase Company Transparency – The use of XBRL means that financial data and industry benchmarking are easily accessible in international capital markets. Organizations can assess performance and conduct industry benchmarking analysis more easily.
Data Consolidation – XBRL provides a uniform standard for consolidating data from multiple disparate source systems. Manual processes are minimized by allowing automation of data validation and analysis, reducing time-consuming and costly collation and reentry of information.
Testable Business Rules – Business rules can constrain what can be reported. These rules can be logical, mathematical, or both.
The international XBRL consortium is supported by more than 600 member organizations, from both the private and public sectors. As per XBRL International, XBRL is used in many different ways, for many different purposes, including by:
Regulators
Companies
Governments
Data Providers
Analysts and Investors
Accountants
As of March 2017, Foreign Private Issuers (FPIs) that prepare financial Statements under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) are subject to the SEC’s XBRL filing requirements. The SEC will allow a company to submit its initial XBRL-tagged interactive data file with its first annual report on Form 20-F or Form 40-F for the fiscal year ending on or after December 15, 2017.
Per the SEC’s regulations, a registrant must submit an interactive data file with the following components:
A full list of SEC XBRL requirements and resources can be found at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission website.
A registrant’s interactive data file must include the following XBRL-tagged information:
One of the many software solutions that supports XBRL reporting is Microsoft Management Reporter. Management Reporter is a performance management tool available to users of Microsoft Dynamics ERP. In Management Reporter you can tag financial statements as you design them so that the tags can easily be reused. This will not only ensure that all reporting requirements are kept, but it will also help you save time when creating instance documents.
ACC is proud to offer comprehensive Management Reporter training classes. These classes cover the following XBRL reporting capabilities:
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