Mike Willis (PwC) joins Raul Varela and Phil Mennona (Rivet Software) to discuss:
Most common XBRL errors and their causes
How to avoid XBRL errors, ensure accuracy, and validate your filings prior to submission
How to implement Agreed Upon Procedures for XBRL, published by the AICPA, internally and in conjunction with your auditing firm
Steps to take in the future to avoid manual review processes
Name: Avoiding Common Errors in XBRL with Special Guest Mike Willis, PwC Date: October 6, 2011 1:00 PM ET Additional Info: Panelists – Raul Varela, CFA (Rivet Software); Mike Willis, CPA (PwC); Phil Mennona, CPA (Rivet Software) View webinar transcript »
December 15th, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA comments on Staff Observations from the Review of Interactive Data Financial Statements, published December 13, 2011.
Filers should take a moment to review the new SEC Staff Observations. Most of these observations reemphasize areas discussed in previous Staff Observations, including Rendering, Negative Values, Extended Elements, and Completeness of Tagging. It should be noted that since the SEC has included many of these same items in previous Staff Observations, it is likely indicative that the SEC is still continuing to see these issues in XBRL filings. Accordingly, filers should review these Staff Observations to help them avoid common issues cited by the SEC. Read the rest of this entry »
Rivet’s Crossfire Controller software integrates and streamlines the external financial reporting process to eliminate manual tasks while delivering a superior level of quality control. This solution creates efficiencies that dramatically improve the workflow of financial reporting cycles.
Join us for a 45-minute product demo and get a taste of how Crossfire Controller empowers companies to:
Accelerate the financial close process and reporting cycles
Minimize manual collection of data from disjointed sources
Put an end to maintaining multiple data sources and rekeying data at every step
Take control of the review process with advanced multi-user collaboration, change tracking, and version control
Bring XBRL in-house with confidence, when the time is right
…all without giving up the comfort of working within the Microsoft Office environment.
These webinars will consist of a 30 minute product overview including live, interactive product demonstration, followed 15 minutes of open Q&A.
August 26th, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager discusses units of measure in XBRL filings.
The final part of my blog will discuss units of measure which is another common area of focus by auditors.
First, let’s talk about the importance of units of measure. This concept is usually pretty obvious to most accountants. Some disclosures of monetary amounts may be expressed in US Dollars while other disclosures could be reported in a foreign currency such as Yen. XBRL provides a special attribute called the “unit reference” which distinguishes the units of measure among the values provided in your XBRL formatted information. Read the rest of this entry »
August 23rd, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager discusses calculation validation of XBRL filings.
The previous blog discussed a few considerations and limitations when including calculation relationships in the XBRL exhibits. In this section I will discuss calculation validation. Calculation validation is an item that is usually checked by validation tools and highlighted by auditors when performing XBRL related engagements. The highlighted inconsistencies should be reviewed carefully to determine if they warrant correction.
This issue, probably more than any other, seems to instill immediate panic in filers. I think I get it. As accountants (a title that includes the word “count”) we are offended when something we are responsible for includes an issue referred to as “calculation error.” Our job often includes making sure that numbers line-up correctly without errors so the thought of this not happening does not settle well. Read the rest of this entry »
August 17th, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager discusses limitations and considerations when including calculation relationships in XBRL filings.
In the last section of this blog series, I discussed the decimals attribute. In the next two blog sections, I will describe items related to calculations. In this section, I will discuss some limitations and considerations when creating calculation relationships in your SEC filing, and in the next section I will discuss calculation validation.
Identifying appropriate calculation relationships can be one of the more complex areas of XBRL submissions to the SEC, so it is no surprise that this is another area of focus by auditors. Read the rest of this entry »
August 10th, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager discusses how to effectively use the decimals attribute.
In the first section of this 5 part blog, I talked about the critical issue of negative values. While many negative value issues significantly reduce the quality of data, I mentioned that it is important to scrutinize auditor comments or validation exceptions because they do not always warrant correction. The same will be true for this section and the 3 remaining parts of this blog series.
The next common area of auditor concern to discuss is the decimals attribute. The decimals attribute in XBRL is used to convey the level of accuracy to which a fact is disclosed. In layperson’s terms, it is used to distinguish if an amount is presented, for example, “in millions” or “in thousands.” Read the rest of this entry »
August 5th, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager discusses issues with incorrect signs in filings and how it can significantly impact the quality of data.
Through our experience with providing over 2,000 XBRL Exhibits to SEC filers, we have worked with a number of audit firms (primarily the Big 4) that assist clients in the review of their XBRL Exhibits. If you have been following the SEC’s Staff Observations, it should be no surprise that one of the common areas of auditor focus is on negative values. This is often an area of primary focus by the SEC in its published guidance, as well as reports and presentations throughout the XBRL marketplace. This area is very important because issues of incorrect sign have an extremely significant impact on the quality of data.
Are you okay with reporting an expense as a credit? I guess if you are Bernie Madoff you might not care, but the thought of misreporting expenses as credits sends a shiver down all good accountants’ spines. An issue of incorrect sign usually means that a Debit was incorrectly reported as a Credit, or vice versa. Because these issues have so much impact, it is no wonder they are spoken about so much and represent a critical area of focus. Read the rest of this entry »
August 3rd, 2011 by Phil Mennona, CPA - Senior XBRL Compliance Manager
Phil Mennona, CPA – Senior XBRL Compliance Manager introduces a 5 part blog series on simple ways to improve the quality of your XBRL filings.
As more companies start to abide by the SEC’s XBRL mandate, this process has forced everyone to learn from their mistakes and evolve with the changes it has produced. Not only software vendors like us, but also the SEC, FASB, and XBRL US have made mistakes; software vendors had to learn to create complex validation rules to prevent technical syntax errors flagged by the EDGAR system while the FASB learned it needed to improve definitions on some standard elements. These changes have allowed the market to mature quite a bit, but as XBRL continues to grow and fulfill its role as the global language of finance, we all still have more learning ahead of us. Read the rest of this entry »
July 12th, 2011 by Raul Varela, CFA - VP, Strategic Initiatives
Raul Varela, Rivet’s VP of Partnerships, comments on the importance of Rivet’s recently announced partnership with CoreFiling. The end of limited liability and the publishing of the AICPA’s Agreed Upon Procedures Engagements for XBRL Tagged Data deepen the need for a comprehensive XBRL review and validation tool – now available from Rivet-CoreFiling.
We recently announced our partnership with CoreFiling to help companies achieve SEC compliance. Rivet Software is at the forefront of standards-based business reporting and analytics, and Corefiling is an expert in validation and regulatory compliance rules. Essentially our partnership is putting two of the smartest guys in the room together and we’re really excited about what this means for our customers. Read the rest of this entry »
Subscribe to Feed
