Xbrl

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to define XBRL, explain how XBRL is used in the business process and also identify its perceived advantages as well as its disadvantages. XBRL was developed to provide more accurate, robust, and transparent data that is to be used in financial statements that are included in legacy electronic and paper reports. Because of its benefits, XBRL can be used in information modeling, storing data in financial reports and generating hard copies of the financial statements in various forms for business analysis and risk assessment. As a result, various regulatory bodies throughout the world have mandated XBRL standards, and in December 2008 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission mandated its use by public companies and mutual funds for reporting financial statements.

INTRODUCTION

XBRL aids the communication between companies and their external users. XBRL was developed to help provide the financial community a standard-based method to prepare, publish, exchange, search and analyze financial statements of both public and private concerns. For investors and analysts, XBRL helps eliminate the time, labor, and errors; for internal management, XBRL offers cost saving, utilizes a standard reporting system, and increases accuracy and reliability of financial data. Because XBRL is designed to be a specification that is applied to all companies and is consistent from one financial statement to another, companies who publish business reporting information coded in XBRL will be creating a means for communicating their data to a universal audience. Despite having some recognized disadvantages in its new stage of implementation, the reduced transaction costs and improved efficiency in rendering the information are, however, powerful and far-reaching consequences of the language.

WHAT XBRL IS

Emerging as an extension of XML, known as xTensible Markup Language, XBRL, which stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is a...