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Overview / Facts Sheet
Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), formerly code-named
XFRML, is an open specification which uses XML-based data tags to
describe financial statements for both public and private companies.
XBRL benefits all members of the financial information supply chain.
XBRL is:
- A standards-based method with which users
can prepare, publish (in a variety of formats), exchange and analyze
financial statements and the information they contain.
- Freely licensed, permits the automatic
exchange and reliable extraction of financial information across all
software formats and technologies, including the Internet.
- Ultimately benefits all users of the
financial information supply chain: public and private companies, the
accounting profession, regulators, analysts, the investment community,
capital markets and lenders, as well as key third parties such as
software developers and data aggregators.
- Does not require a company to disclose any
additional information beyond that which they normally disclose under
existing accounting standards. Does not require a change to existing
accounting standards.
- Improves access to financial
information/speeds up access
- Reduces need to enter financial
information more than one time, reducing the risk of data entry error
and eliminating the need to manually key information for various
formats, (printed financial statement, an HTML document for a company’s
Web site, an EDGAR filing document, a raw XML file or other specialized
reporting formats such as credit reports and loan documents) thereby
lowering a company's cost to prepare and distribute its financial
statements while improving investor or analyst access to information.
- Leverages efficiencies of the Internet as
today’s primary source of financial information by making Web browser
searches more accurate and relevant. (More than 80% of major US public
companies provide some type of financial disclosure on the Internet.)
- XBRL meets the needs of today's investors
and other users of financial information by providing accurate and
reliable information to help them make informed financial decisions.
To apply to join XBRL Australia, click
here
For a brief history of how XBRL came to be,
see the history page.
XBRL was developed by the international XBRL
project committee made up of companies representing the financial
information supply chain including:
American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants; Arthur Andersen LLP; Best Software; CaseWare International;
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants; Cohen Computer Consulting;
Crowe, Chizek and Company, LLP; Deloitte & Touche, LLP; e-content, a
division of Interleaf, Inc.; EDGAR Online, Inc.; Epicor Software
Corporation; Ernst & Young, LLP;
Fidelity Investments; FRx Software Corporation; Grant
Thornton LLP; Great Plains; Hyperion; International Accounting Standards
Committee; IBM; Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia; Institute
of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; Institute of Management
Accountants; KPMG, LLP; Lawson Software; Microsoft Corporation; Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter; Navision Software; Oracle Corporation; PPA GmbH;
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP; Reuters Group PLC; Sage Software; SAP AG;
Standard & Poor's; ePartners, Inc. and The Woodburn Group
XBRL Australia Ltd.
Copyright © 2002-2006 [XBRL Australia Ltd]. All rights reserved.
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