XBRL Background

About XBRL / iXBRL

What are the taxonomies?

Taxonomies are dictionaries used by iXBRL / XBRL. They define the specific tags for individual items of data (such as "net profit"). Different taxonomies are required for different financial reporting purposes. Different XBRL jurisdictions may have their own financial reporting taxonomies to reflect their local accounting regulations. Many different organisations, including regulators, specific industries or even companies, may require taxonomies to cover their own business reporting needs.

What is XBRL?



What is iXBRL?

iXBRL (inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a further development of XBRL.  It is a hybrid that combines the XBRL data tags with HTML formatting that make it possible to view a reproduction of the accounts in a web browser.  HMRC in the UK utilise iXBRL which can be viewed in a web browser, rather than XBRL which cannot be viewed in a web browser.

Who owns XBRL?

No-one “owns” XBRL, it is open source.  XBRL is being developed by an international non-profit consortium of approximately 450 major companies, organisations and government agencies. It is an open standard, free of licence fees.  It is already being put to practical use in a number of countries and implementations of XBRL are growing rapidly around the world.

What is the idea behind XBRL?

The idea behind XBRL, eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is simple. Instead of treating financial information as a block of text - as in a standard internet page or a printed document - it provides an identifying tag for each individual item of data. This tag is computer readable. For example, company net profit has its own unique tag.

The introduction of XBRL tags enables automated processing of business information by computer software, cutting out laborious and costly processes of manual re-entry and comparison. Computers can treat XBRL data "intelligently";  they can recognise the information in a XBRL document, select it, analyse it, store it, exchange it with other computers and present it automatically in a variety of ways for users. XBRL greatly increases the speed of handling of financial data, reduces the chance of error and permits automatic checking of information.

Companies can use XBRL to save costs and streamline their processes for collecting and reporting financial information. Consumers of financial data, including investors, analysts, financial institutions and regulators, can receive, find, compare and analyse data much more rapidly and efficiently if it is in XBRL format.

XBRL can handle data in different languages and accounting standards. It can flexibly be adapted to meet different requirements and uses. Data can be transformed into XBRL by suitable mapping tools or it can be generated in XBRL by appropriate software.

More information on XBRL

For a more detailed understanding of XBRL, see the following pages of the XBRL International website: