eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)
XBRL cross-government project
The e-GIF XBRL Standards Working Group (WG) was established to determine the suitability of using XBRL within government, to develop a standard for government agencies if XBRL is adopted, and make recommendations to the e-GIF Management Committee.
A feasibility study between Inland Revenue and Statistics New Zealand to share IR10 data in an XBRL format was successfully completed in October 2006. Over 220,000 IR10 records were successfully translated into an XBRL format and transferred to Statistics NZ.
Since then a scalable reusable taxonomy has been successfully created and tested based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) taxonomy.
The standard had a status of Under Development in the e-Government Interoperability Framework. Late last year a submission to the e-GIF Management Committee had the status changed to Recommended as a result of the work carried out by the e-GIF XBRL Standards Working Group, subject to positive consultation with interested parties.
The work carried out by the working group created the final recommendation paper XBRL - The New Zealand Approach.
"As the market adopts the emerging electronic business reporting standard XBRL, report preparers and users will realise the long heralded promises of the internet - better, faster and cheaper" - Paul Penler, Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP
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XBRL in NZ
On 5 May 2008 Cabinet (CBC Min (08) 12/7 cabinet agreed that Phase 1 of SBR begin with the Financial Reporting Cluster agencies comprising the Ministry of Economic Development, Inland Revenue Department, Statistics New Zealand and the Accident Compensation Corporation.
SBR will deliver by 2011 compliance cost reductions to business by reducing the need to submit information to multiple agencies, standardising data definitions and implementing XBRL.
SBR is a programme that proposes to deliver an electronic business to government connection.
Phase 1 will commence in 2008/09 and will design and build a machine to machine delivery platform taking into account existing infrastructure and architecture. It will also create a New Zealand government taxonomy following a stock take, prioritisation and rationalisation of forms across participating government agencies.
"...We know from the annual World Bank survey that New Zealand is second only to Singapore in having the world's most friendly environment for business, but we are always looking for ways to make it quicker, cheaper and easier to firms to transact with government. This is an excellent example of the many arms of government extending a single hand to business..." - Lianne Dalziel
Find out more
- Simpler business reporting on the cards 19/05/2008
- Post-QRR: extending a single hand to business 06/09/2007
- Speech to Christchurch Small Business Expo 27/08/2007
XBRL internationally
XBRL is growing quickly around the world with increasing participation from individual countries and international organisations. XBRL International is comprised of jurisdictions which represent countries, regions or international bodies and which focus on the progress of XBRL in their area. The consortium is comprised of over 550 companies, associations, and agencies in 22 jurisdictions worldwide along with increasing activity in working together to build the XBRL language and promote and support its adoption.
Australia
In Australia on August 30, 2007 the Treasurer announced that AUD$208 million will be spent over the next 3 years to implement Standard Business Reporting (SBR). The role of XBRL in this will be significant.
UK
HMRC has begun receiving Corporation Tax submissions in XBRL. The government plans to make XBRL mandatory for filing of tax returns, including accounts, by all companies from March 2011.
Netherlands
The main objective of the Dutch Taxonomy Project is to reduce the administrative expenses of companies by implementing the electronic filing of financial, tax and statistical statements for all companies (about 600,000). The savings for businesses, when fully operational, are estimated to reduce compliance process costs by 25%.
The Dutch Government is supporting the XBRL project initiated by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand.
Best practice Cases of the 4th Quality Conference for Public Administration in the European Union The Dutch Taxonomy Project (NTP) "...NTP is a brilliant example of a project that not only saves money and improves quality, but that also reduces irritation and saves energy..."
Find out more
- XBRL International Progress Report November 2007 [PDF 546KB]
- XBRL Deloitte trials XBRL financial reporting standard
- Business Reporting Burden to be Slashed
- UK Government says XBRL will be mandatory for company tax filings from 2010
- Best practice Cases of the 4th Quality Conference for Public Administration in the EU
- The Dutch Taxonomy Project
- New computer language for Wall Street
What is XBRL
XBRL is a data description language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionising business reporting around the world.
XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is one of a family of "XML" languages which are becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and on the internet.
"...adopting the financial language will be as easy as clicking on a dropdown menu and selecting " save as XBRL..." - Liv Watson, Director of XBRL for Edgar Online Inc and infomediary chair of XBRL International.
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Benefits of XBRL
XBRL provides major benefits for preparing, analysing and communicating business information. It also offers cost savings, greater efficiency, improved accuracy and reliability to everyone involved in supplying or using financial data.
Data can be automatically pulled into documents and spreadsheets, reducing or eliminating the need for manual re-entry and easing the data collection process. This saves time and increases the accuracy of the data.
Small businesses can benefit alongside large ones.
" The effect that XBRL will have on the business community will be more significant than the transition from paper and pen analysis of financial information to the use of electronic spreadsheets " - Mike Willis the founding chairman of XBRL and a PwC partner
Find out more
- XBRL International - Benefits and uses for business
- PricewaterhouseCoopers - How XBRL web services impacts regulatory assessments
How XBRL works
XBRL works by taking company business reporting data, mapping the structure of the information to XBRL, and creating any additional tags needed to render a full set of financial statements.
The result is an additional identifier attached to each piece of business data that can provide clues to its origin, its relationship to other data, the rules used to prepare the information, and more.
"...HTML has its limitations: the data is only useful for human consumption and interpretation. Computers cannot process or understand the data in HTML format. Computers can understand data once it is tagged to XBRL taxonomies..."- Liv Watson, Director of XBRL for Edgar Online Inc and infomediary chair of XBRL International.
