A ‘macro’ analysis of the use of XBRL

International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting

Volumn 1, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 213-223

  Abdullah, Aminah ^a   Khadaroo, Iqbal ^b   Shaikh, Junaid M ^c  

^a Belfast Metropolitan College   (United Kingdom)

^b QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST   (United Kingdom)

^c CURTIN UNIVERSITY   (Malaysia)

Author keywords

accounting; extensible Business Reporting Language; regulation; UK; USA; XBRL

Indexed keywords

EID: 79961135700     PISSN: 17536715     EISSN: 17536723     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJMFA.2008.021243     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Bruce, R. (2006) ‘Regulators seek to close the language gap on reporting’, Financial Times, 8 June. Companies House (2006) Software Filing Update, Press Release, 31 October.
2. Debreceny, R. and Gray, G.L. (2001) ‘The production and use of semantically rich accounting reports on the internet: XML and XBRL’, International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.47–74.
3. Doolin, B. and Troshani, I. (2004) ‘XBRL: a research note’, QRAM: Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.93–103.
4. FSA (2006) Financial Services Authority Ditches XBRL, Press Release, 30 November.
5. Government Technology (2006) Launch of XBRL Service by HM Revenue and Customs Heralds Broader Use of New Electronic Business Language in the UK, Press Release, 14 March.
6. HM Revenue and Customs (2006) Review of HMRC Online Services, Carter Report, HMRC London.
7. Hodge, F.D., Kennedy, J.J. and Maines, L.A. (2004) ‘Does search-facilitating technology improve the transparency of financial reporting?’, The Accounting Review, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp.687–703.
8. ICI (2007) Investment Company Institute ICI Unveils Draft XBRL Taxonomy for Public Review Data Tagging Language Will Harness the Power of the Internet for Fund Disclosure, News Release, 4 January.
9. Jones, A. and Willis, M. (2003) ‘The challenge of XBRL: business reporting for the investor’, Balance Sheet, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.29–37.
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11. Pinksker, R. (2003) ‘XBRL awareness in auditing: a sleeping giant?’, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 18, No. 9, pp.732–736.
12. SEC (2005) SEC Adopts Rule Establishing a Voluntary Program for Reporting Financial Information on Edgar Using XBRL, 3 February.
13. SEC (2006a) SEC Offers Incentives for Companies to File Financial Reports with Interactive Data, Press Release, 11 January.
14. SEC (2006b) SEC to Rebuild Public Disclosure System to Make It ‘Interactive’, Press Release, 25 September.
15. Tie, R. (2005) ‘XBRL: it’s unstoppable’, Journal of Accountancy, August, Vol. 200, No. 2, pp.32–35.
16. Willis, M. (2005) ‘XBRL and data standardisation: transforming the way CPAs work’, Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 199, No. 3, pp.80–81.
17. XBRL (2005) XBRL Progress Report, Transforming Business Reporting, October, New York.
18. XBRL-US (2003) XBRL Enabled Accounting Software Solutions: A Study of Leading Vendors.
19. XBRL-US (2006) XBRL-US Makes Training Resources Available To Public Issuers, 25 January.
20. Taxonomies are a group of definitions that represent information found in business reports and the relationships of the items found in those reports (XBRL, 2005). Companies and individuals creating XBRL documents use taxonomy to match the information in their report to the concepts defined in the taxonomy. Many XBRL jurisdictions are involved in the development of taxonomy to suit their respective local accounting standards, such as US GAAP and UK GAAP. Other government agencies and regulators may develop taxonomies to represent their specific regulatory reporting requirements. Examples include the taxonomies developed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the New Zealand Exchange.
21. XBRL-US is the local arm of XBRL International. The latter is a not-for-profit consortium of approximately 450 companies and agencies worldwide working together to build the XBRL language, promote and support its adoption.