XBRL Projects

Each region of the world has prepared for and began using XBRL in one way or another.  Some areas have created “projects” to track their XBRL progress.  The XBRL International has a great source for finding these various projects at http://www.xbrl.org/knowledge_centre/projects/map.  There are approximately 130+ projects around the world in various stages from prototype to development to pilot to implemented.  According to the projects list and map maintained by XBRL International, the majority of the projects are located in Europe (~32 projects) and a mere 15 projects in the United States, mostly on the east coast.  The map allows you to scan the globe and receive quick information of each project.  You can also use the map’s information bubbles to look into each project with more detail.   

The two projects that I want to focus on today are the EBA XBRL Project and the Oregon CAFR Project.  We’re going to look at how XBRL is being used by each project.  We’ll learn what tools we would need to implement our own XBRL project.

 

EBA stands for the European Banking Authority.  They have joined efforts with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to form the Eurofiling project.  They have collaborated with XBRL Europe, stakeholders, schools, and individuals.  The group is comprised of volunteers, regardless of their affiliations.  According to their website, Eurofiling welcomes “employees of any supervisor, reporting entity or XBRL industry/organization, as well as academics or any other interested people” (Eurofiling Initiative, 2013).

 

In 2005, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors created COREP (Common Reporting) “to achieve a common solvency ratio reporting framework for credit institutions and investment firms under the EU capital requirements regime” (Eurofiling Initiative, 2013).  The COREP taxonomy was published in March 2006 and in late 2006 FINREP (Financial Reporting), the code-named reporting for IAS/IFRS, and COREP projects were implemented (Eurofiling Initiative, 2013).  The Eurofiling Initiative is responsible for getting the whole region using the same standards for reporting.

 

 

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) was created by the State of Oregon to promote transparency and innovation.  The state is not required to report using XBRL at this time; however, they took the initiative to get on board and lead the pack of governmental units.  It was created by the Department of Administrative, it is audited by the Secretary of State Audits Division, and it is published for the Governor and citizens of the State of Oregon and for public consumption.  The goal was “to build an XBRL taxonomy for government accounting standards used by state and local governments for financial reporting and then express the state’s CAFR using XBRL” (Hoffman & Watson, 2010).  In 2010, there were about 88,000 state and local government units using it (Hoffman & Watson, 2010).

 

The Oregon State Controller, John Radford, was quoted saying the following when considering the need for XBRL:

 

“Our XBRL investments in an efficient global marketplace today will help sow the seeds for lower interest cost tomorrow.  For government financial statement preparers, the marginal cost to convert existing financial reports in XBRL will increase market efficiency and that’s a good thing.  Our experience in Oregon is that the actual cost is slightly more than converting existing files from spreadsheets and word processors to XBRL.  As market players convert to XBRL, state and local governments should be ready.”

 

The CAFR project is now the leader in the US for government reporting.  If you take a look at the state’s website at www.oregon.gov you can find a whole section on transparency.  They have dedicated the resources to make the state’s government transparent for its people.  They have chosen to be proactive with reporting and serve as a role model for all government entities.

 

 

Thinking about starting your own XBRL project at your employer?  As the world uses XBRL more and more, there is XBRL software popping up all around us.  The one that I’m going to look into is Dragon View XBRL from Rivet Software.  According to the Rivet Software website, the Dragon View program “helps ensure compliance with the SEC XBRL reporting requirement” (Rivet Software, 2013).  The site explains that Dragon View can “ensure XBRL filings comply with the [SEC] mandate, from viewing basic instance properties and verifying presentations and calculations, to confirming complete XBRL packages”; offer you “confidence and peace of mind that the XBRL filing tags are accurate and consistent across the entire filing”; and offer conformity by allowing the users to “pinpoint extensions and their related details” (Rivet Software, 2013).  Dragon View was created to allow users to work more efficiently and reduce issues.  Here’s a list of some of the software’s features (Rivet Software, 2013):

§  Identify instance/taxonomy versions and other properties

§  Ensure XBRL Tagging is accurate and consistent with raw data and rendered data

§  Export to Excel, HTML, or listing of full facts “working papers”

§  Analyze extensions used in the specific company taxonomy

§  Quick-search the standard taxonomy elements for possible recommendations

§  Filter and sort all XBRL facts in a specific filing to pinpoint what’s most important to the review

§  Assure the note tagging granularity is at the proper level

§  Verify the labels and label linkbase match the source

§  View the calculation hierarchy and automatically check summations in the calculation linkbase

§  Compare all presentation links and line item text via the rendered view, reviewer view, or data grid view

After this week’s research and after getting a better understand of XBRL and how it can make our lives more efficient…I’m thinking that an XBRL project at my employer may be around the corner for me!

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Abraham, C., & Kull, J. (2008, November 19). AGA research study predicts bright future for XBRL use in state and local governments. accountingWEB. Retrieved from http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/aga-research-study-predicts-bright-future-xbrl-use-state-and-local-governments

 

admin. (2011, November 14). List of free XBRL tools. FinanceSheets.com, Retrieved from http://www.financesheets.com/list-of-free-xbrl-tool/

 

Beers, A. & Savage, M. (2010, January 7). The sec mandated xbrl. Corporate Finance Insider, Retrieved from http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2010/CorpFin/SEC_XBRL.jsp

 

European Banking Authority, EIOPA, & XBRL Europe (2013). About us. Retrieved from http://www.eurofiling.info/about_us/about_us.shtml

 

Hoffman, C., & Watson, L. (2010). XBRL For Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

 

Mueller, D. (2009, June 25). Public Sector Case Study: State of Oregon CAFR Project. Retrieved from http://archive.xbrl.org/19th/sites/19thconference.xbrl.org/files/Microsoft PowerPoint - JustSystems Mueller XBRL

 

Ramin, K. & Reiman, C. (2013). IFRS and XBRL: How to improve Business Reporting through Technology and Object Tracking. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

 

Rivet Software. (2013). Dragon View. Retrieved from http://rivetsoftware.com/solutions/quality-control/dragonview/

 

State of Indiana. (2012). 2012 CAFR. Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/auditor/2530.htm

 

State of Oregon. (2012). Oregon Transparency: get to know state government. Retrieved from http://www.oregon.gov/transparency/Pages/index.aspx

 

XBRL Espana. (2011, August 14). CEBS Why is XBRL recommended to be used? Retrieved from http://www.xbrlwiki.info/index.php?title=CEBS_Why_is_XBRL_recommended_to_be_used?

 

XBRL International. (2013). XBRL Projects [demographic map]. Retrieved from http://www.xbrl.org/knowledge_centre/projects/map

 

XBRL International. (2013). EBA XBRL Project. Retrieved from http://www.xbrl.org/project/eba-xbrl-project

XBRL International. (2013). XBRL and Public Sector Financial Reporting: Oregon CAFR Project. Retrieved from http://www.xbrl.org/project/xbrl-and-public-sector-financial-reporting-oregon-cafr-project