Based authoring of digital financial reports leveraging the xbrl
medium This web site provides information on how to use xbrl to help
business users exchange business information.Business information
incluldes both financial and nonfinancial information.Everything on this
site made available to all under a creative commons license.Everything
may be reused however one sees fit.All we ask is that you give credit
where credit is due.Accounting vningsonlinshoing
firms(Merrill is one of the largest filing agents, but there are many
other filing agents Xbrl is a global phenomenon Is a real global
opportunity for students to learn some skills that will be valued around
the world.The article did not mention is that the last group of about
6, 000 sec public companies is moving from having to summary level
creation of their sec xbrl financial reports(Most people call this block
tagging)To having to provide all the details of the disclosures in the
notes(Detailed tagging).There will be a lot of work done in june/july as
most filers create their 10qs and then another big jump in
december/january as filers report 10ks. But i disagree that the
opportunity about"Xbrl".The opportunity is more about digital financial
reporting than it is about xbrl.Xbrl is simply an enabling
technology.There are many, many things that you need to understand in
order to satisfy the market need.Sure, xbrl is Part of digital financial
reporting but the operative word is"Part". This would be my list of
necessary skills and how to get those skills: Financial
reporting/accounting.If you don't have financial reporting and
accounting skills then you really can't be of much value in expressing
financial information digitally using the xbrl medium.Accountants,
particularly certified public accountants and chartered accountants,
understand what it takes to be at this level and have this necessary
building block.It is way easier to teach accountants the few additional
things they need to work with digital financial reports effectively than
it is to take a technical person who grasps the xbrl technical syntax
and teach them accounting.You can do it and certain types of technical
people can provide significant value, but it will always be through
working with someone with accounting and financial reporting expertise.
Modelingbased reporting.Xbrl is a means of modeling business
information.Accountants today can use the medium of"Paper and
pencil"Or"Microsoft word"OrExcelOrHTML to express a financial
report.With digital financial reporting using the xbrl medium, you need
to convey that same message using a different medium.Just as your paper
version(Or the electronic version of that paper version in html, pdf,
word)Needs to be a true and fair representation of your financial
information which is complete, correct, consistent, accurate and
which"Foots and cross casts"And otherwise ticks and ties;So to does your
digital financial report.The paper version and the digital version of a
financial report must convey the same message.Another term for digital
financial reporting is modelbased reporting. Understanding the big
picture.The first thing you need to understand is how to convert your
thinking from paperbased also called"Documentbased"Or"Presentationbased"
reporting into modelbased reportingOrdigital financial reporting.The
document financial report semantics and dynamics theory does just
that.Once you understand the pieces of the model you have to understand
how to be sure you are building your model correctly and expressing your
financial information correctly using that model.The document guide to
verification of an sec xbrl financial report can help you with that. Get
the right software.This is the tricky task today, finding the right
software.Today every software application for creating something like an
sec xbrl financial report is an xbrl technical syntax editor.As such,
you have to understand the xbrl technical syntax.This will change.First,
you need to understand the big picture(See above)So you know what to
look for in software.Basically, you need to become an educated
buyer.Second, you need to ask good questions of software vendors.That
will push software vendors to build the right software, financial report
creation software rather than xbrl technical syntax editors.A
knowledgeable accountant will know this cheap wedding party dresses
software when they see it;Basically it will let them be successful and
they will understand that they are being successful.The guide to
verification of an sec xbrl financial report has a list of what
accountants need from software, see the section"Role of software".This
is a more extensive but less refined list. Get involved.Once you get
properly trained, get involved.One of my favorite quotes is"The best way
to predict the future is to create it. "There is a huge need for
accountants, financial analysts, and others to understand how to use
this new medium, xbrl.There are other pieces to the digital financial
reporting puzzle such as rdf/owl.Few accountants truly understand how to
put all the pieces of the puzzle together.Don't become part of the
problem by attacking this change halfcocked;Get properlytrained and
become part of the solution.Some accountants will need to dig into the
xbrl technical syntax deeply, but most will not.Digital financial
reporting or modelbased reporting or however you want to refer to it
will be part of the future. Digital financial reporting is part of a
much bigger trend, digital business reporting.Some people call
this"Linked data"And prefer rdf/owl as to xbrl, for example the
government linked data working group.The data coalition is pushing the
us federal government to adopt something like xbrl or maybe linked
data.Like the journal of accountancy article said, this is a global
phenomenon.If you want to understand the bigger picture, take a look at
xbrl for dummies which puts these pieces together for you.
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