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3 Levels of Financial Report TransparencyFebruary 25th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
An interesting post at the Accounting Elf discusses how financial statements should be more like blogs. With the rise of social media and the generally higher expectations of information consumers, this is an important topic. Financial reports are after all just a channel of communication between an organization and its stakeholders and there’s certainly a lot that could be done in this area. Read the rest of this entry » Continuous ComplianceFebruary 22nd, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) spending is increasing in the face of more regulation and investor demand, which is why Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) software is expected to be a top investment in 2010 according to analysts AMR Research. The interest in CCM is another good reason for using XBRL internally within your organization. Read the rest of this entry » XBRL EcosystemFebruary 19th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
The XBRL International Standards Board at XBRL.org have recently published an interesting document that calls for input on ways to evolve the XBRL specification over the next decade. They identify 3 key goals:
Your input on reaching these goals is sought via a well-thought out questionnaire. Now I’m too lazy to fill in questionnaires and I’m not involved in XBRL development but have a few ideas of my own. Read the rest of this entry » Fear Factor: Detail Tagging EditionFebruary 18th, 2010 by Charlie Hymer, CPA - Senior Account Executive
The cloud of fear surrounding the next phase of the XBRL Mandate, Detail Tagging, has been growing darker as vendors release the numbers on just how many tags are going to be required to be compliant. The truth is, some companies’ notes have a whole lot of numbers (sometimes in the thousands) that are going to need tags when the time comes. Because of the breadth and intricacy of such an undertaking, it’s important to make sure that your provider has a grasp on what they’re doing. At the end of the day, the printer doesn’t sign off on your financials, you do. Read the rest of this entry » Sage Stuffs XBRL TurkeyFebruary 17th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
I am indebted to Conor O’Kelly for his tweeting about Sage, a leading UK SME ERP vendor, taking XBRL seriously. Sage has established an XBRL microsite to cover all aspects of their engagement with XBRL and provided an ‘everything you need to know’ white paper to outline their thoughts. What’s useful about this paper is that it clearly lays out the Sage product roadmap for supporting XBRL/iXBRL across their diverse product range. A paragon of clarity and transparency, just like XBRL. So just in case you are wondering, I’m not suggesting that XBRL is a ‘turkey’ in the US sense of the word – it just makes a great headline. And while you wait for Sage and other ERP vendors to fully embrace XBRL you might like to consider what Rivet’s Crossfire can do to help you to manage your XBRL reporting in the meantime. Demystifying XBRLFebruary 17th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
KPMG have published some useful guidance for UK corporations in a short paper called Demystifying XBRL. Despite starting with the rather odd assertion that XBRL tags work in a similar way to barcodes (er, no), the paper has lots of great advice for prospective UK filers of iXBRL-based Corporation Tax (CT) returns – especially in sections 6-8. The paper supports the upcoming UK iXBRL Roadshow, which no matter how you spin it, just doesn’t sound that exciting… Complexity & Chaos vs. Clarity & CommunicationFebruary 12th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
The C words – complexity and chaos or clarity and communication are at the root of the Global Accounting Alliance’s (GAA) latest report – Making Financial Reporting Simpler and More Useful (The Way Forward). People seem to think that financial reporting is too complex, there is not enough clarity and that existing standards, as they evolve guided by committees of blind watchmakers, are contributing to the chaos. The GAA ends the report with this statement: It is a question of human behaviour. The continual urge to add more and more refinements and additions to the financial reporting process has to be curtailed. There has to be an active effort to remove elements which are now either unneccesary or have been found wanting. Financial reports have become Maslovian examples of ’self-actualization’ carried to extremes (are you lost yet?) The GAA aims to ‘nudge’ all the players in the financial reporting debate to make the necessary changes. Now I don’t know about you, but when people nudge me I tend to elbow them back and the next thing you know, the whole bar is on its way to A&E. Read the rest of this entry » The Focus of Process SavingsFebruary 12th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
There’s a very interesting debate going on over at Daniel Robert’s blog that began by considering the extra effort that will be required for footnote tagging but in the comment thread moved to consideration of the process of S.E.C. XBRL reporting. Here I’d like to draw attention to the focal point of where any process ’savings’ are likely to be made. Read the rest of this entry » XBRL Global Ledger: EDI 2.0?February 10th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
Back in the 1980’s I remember going to an IBM seminar evangelizing something called EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) a document messaging format designed for system-to-system operation over a VAN (value added network). I must say I always wondered what was the purpose of a network that didn’t add any value but today, despite the Internet and web services, EDI is still going strong: Particularly among e-commerce partners and in certain vertical industries e.g. automotive. So does XBRL have the potential to become a kind of EDI 2.0? Read the rest of this entry » Best Practice S.E.C. Filing AdviceFebruary 9th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor
An excellent article in the Journal of Accountancy – Avoiding Common Errors of XBRL Implementation – has some useful best practice advice in the sections entitled ‘Mapping Tips’ and ‘A Strong Process for Preparing XBRL Documents’. Two of the article tips in particular are worth highlighting here: Educate management that ownership of XBRL submissions belongs to the company, not the outsourcer. Educate management that this is an accounting and reporting process, not an IT process. |
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