Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)

            eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) may vastly improve the transparency of firms’ financial information. Financial statements in XBRL format allow financial report users to directly search for relevant information regardless of the location of the information and to easily compare related information between different companies. As a consequence, management’s financial reporting choices and financial disclosure management practices are more explicitly presented to users.

            The anticipated clarity expected to accrue to users of financial statements, along with any increased efficiencies of resource allocation to firms by investors, are expected, in turn, to affect management’s financial reporting system choices and disclosure management practices. In theory, the result of this process should be equilibrium in which transparency and investor resource allocation efficiencies are optimized over time. Therefore, as XBRL becomes more widely accepted, its impact on management’s decisions relative to financial disclosure, user’s reactions relative to resource allocations to firms, and management’s reactions to user investment decisions are issues to be addressed.

            XBRL, a member of the family of languages based on XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is becoming a standard for the electronic exchange of data between businesses on the Internet. Using XML, identifying tags are attached to items of data so they can be processed efficiently by computer software. Therefore, XML has gained wide acceptance throughout the information technology community as a primary method to provide efficient data communication over the Internet. As an XML convention, XBRL is easily extensible and can be used across platforms, software formats, and/or technologies. These XBRL characteristics allow the complex, ever-changing financial reporting process to become more efficient and economical. As a result, it is becoming increasingly popular in public financial reporting.

            Within XBRL documents, each financial item is assigned a unique, predefined data tag. These tags are established according to financial accounting standards. Using these tags, every data element is fully described in terms of its definition, format, location, calculation, and labeling. The tags themselves act like barcodes that stick to data regardless of their paths, destinations, or usages. XBRL can show how items are related to one another and can also identify whether they fall into particular groupings for organizational or presentational purposes. Users of financial reports do not see the embedded tags when they retrieve financial information, but the tags contain important facts regarding the meaning and the location of the information. When financial statement users search XBRL-formatted documents, all related information within financial reports can be presented to users simultaneously.

           XBRL provides many benefits for both financial report users and producers. Its data tags are computer readable and allow automated processing of business information by computer software. This eliminates laborious and costly processes associated with manual re-entry and comparison. Computers can also treat XBRL tagged data "intelligently"; they can recognize the information in XBRL documents, allowing the processes of information selection, analysis, storage, presentation, and exchange with other computers to be automated. Therefore, XBRL greatly increases the speed of handling financial data and reduces the chance of error. It offers cost savings, greater efficiency, and improved accuracy and reliability to all involved in supplying and using financial information.

            To users of financial statements, XBRL reduces the research costs associated with investments. Developing financial models and comparing performance and solvency become simpler processes when using XBRL documents. More importantly, data tags enable financial report users to more easily recognize management financial reporting choices. As a result, increased transparency provides more useful information and uncertainty decreases. Accordingly, users are better able to evaluate the reliability of corporate managers’ fair value determinations. User investment decisions become more firmly supported by their evaluation of the quality of financial reports and their understanding of the financial information disclosed within them.

            To companies supplying financial statements, XBRL provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis, and exchange of business information. As business information and financial data flows from original business transactions to corporate headquarters and on to government regulatory agencies and other third part stakeholders, data passes through a multitude of transcriptions, manipulations and software conversions. With XBRL, financial information and supporting text from internal systems can be expressed in a single specification, which in turn can be used continuously throughout the process. Consequently, the information required by the SEC, the IRS, and for publishing via the Web can be automated.

            In addition, XBRL increases a company’s information visibility and accessibility to the capital market. According to a Thomson Financial report, 29 percent of U.S. companies listed on NASDAQ and 16 percent listed on the New York Stock Exchange have no research coverage. Making information available in an industry-standard format that is easily received, analyzed, and evaluated may also increase a company’s likelihood of being tracked by financial analysts and its chances of attracting additional investment capital. As XBRL continues to emerge, users of financial report information have indicated a strong interest in its application. Some researchers suggested that, in addition to potential affects on user acquisition and processing of financial information, XBRL might further influence user judgments and decisions based on the information obtained.

XBRL increases the transparency of management’s financial reporting choices and disclosure management to the uses of financial information, the reliability and the reputation of their financial information will be more easily analyzed and evaluated. Consequentially, as the adoption of XBRL to support financial reporting process becomes more common, managers may become aware that their capital market positions are being affected. Therefore, their attitudes and decisions concerning financial reporting system choices and financial disclosure management may change. If managers realize that disclosure management may damage firms’ reputation and affect users’ investment decision after XBRL adoption, they will become more likely to choose more precise or neutral accounting policies and procedures on their financial reporting. Similarly, if managers realize that XBRL adoption makes their financial disclosure management transparent, they will become less likely to engage in financial disclosure management that is harmful to the users of financial reports.