PART THREE

XBRL – Using Technology to Implement Standards

TIPS FOR READERS

The advance of the digital age has spawned an outstanding technological standard that partners perfectly with IFRS. Specifically, XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a free software tool that provides the means by which financial information can be collected, collated, transmitted and analysed with remarkable rapidity and accuracy.

As a direct consequence of proven efficiencies and significant cost savings, numerous corporations and governments have implemented XBRL for internal and external purposes, such as in relation to inter-business transactions and compliance reporting.

Essentially, XBRL facilitates the organisation of financial information, as per IFRS, so as to make it easier for all concerned in any business reporting process. Even so, it is noteworthy that non-financial standards exist, and are growing in number, which has prompted the XBRL community to build non-financial components.

Overall, and aside from business reporting preparation and distribution, XBRL has become an integral part of a massive service industry that accesses, reads, analyses, compares, rearranges and creates assorted financial reports for a wide and growing market that is hungry for reliable information.

Summary

The first section introduces XBRL, discusses the benefits of this standard and identifies major users of XBRL worldwide. It also provides an introduction to XML, which is the technical basis of XBRL. The second section addresses the partnership of XBRL and IFRS, and reflects upon achievements to date. This section also introduces the integral taxonomy, the matter of IFRS translation, and provides a list of support materials, including a glossary of XBRL-related terminology. Future steps are considered in relation to XBRL and the acceptance of this standard by prospective users.

The third section refers to the organising and collection of data and shows examples of illustrative financial statements. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is introduced, along with integrated reporting and the proven prospect of collaborative content analysis. The fourth section looks into systems that are used to organise and collect data, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP). Discussion about opportunities to integrate and track objects concludes that section.

Target audience

The overall concept map shown in the introduction indicates the necessary breadth and depth of elements contained in this book, which are fundamental in supporting current and expected thoughts of a new reporting paradigm. Accordingly, we can see that the various sections of this book are likely to be of particular significance to some people more than to others. Readers who are expected to have an affinity with, and interest in, Part III of this book include:

• accounting practitioners
• developers of business reporting
• deliverers of business reporting
• standard setters
• IT professionals
• auditors
• senior executives
• senior bureaucrats
• finance professionals
• academics
• students
• company directors
• government officers
• politicians
• government ministers.