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Get the Most Out of Your XBRL Software

Charlie Hymer, CPA - Regional Sales Director — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:21:58 +0000

Charlie Hymer, CPA – Regional Sales Director, reminisces about the old days of financial reporting and how XBRL will forever change its future.

The financial reporting industry has changed drastically over the last 20 years. Not to date myself, but oh well, here goes. I remember when I first started out at Arthur Andersen we didn’t have computers. We used columnar paper and had to continually tape more paper on the end of the spreadsheets to add more columns if the paper wasn’t long enough. To make a change was completely manual—erasing, re-adding, and hoping that everything flowed through properly. In 1989 we got computers to go out in the field. They looked like huge suitcases and we newbies always had to carry them because they were so heavy. We used Lotus 123 and thought that it couldn’t get any better than that. Then a little company called Microsoft gave us Excel and Word. What? No more hand created spreadsheets? Where’s the fun in that? It was accounting nirvana. Although this was a drastic change in the late 1980’s, there haven’t been any revolutions since. Until now! We’ve moved from a paper-based system to an electronic system. Now we are moving to Internet systems, based on XBRL. This will further revolutionize the way financial reports are processed.

I know, XBRL has been a burden to the public companies filing with the SEC. What is forgotten is that XBRL is a way of tagging data that frees you from your spreadsheets. Let me explain in a little more detail because this way of thinking is completely new for us spreadsheet focused accountants. How many times have we looked at our summary Excel or Word document and said, “Hmmm, where did this number come from?” You hover over the cell and learn that it came from a previous spreadsheet in your workbook. You go to that spreadsheet, click on the cell and learn that it came from another spreadsheet. Eventually you learn that the original source is located on a coworker’s desktop. A couple of alarms go off in my head.

The audit trail – Tracing data back to the source can take a significant amount of time to move through all the links. At Arthur Andersen, my senior would make me print out the cell references to help with the audit trail.
Excel linking – What happens if your coworker’s hard drive goes down? Or somewhere in the spreadsheets someone accidentally breaks the link causing the dreaded #REF#!?
Changes – How do you make a last minute change, ensure it flows through properly, and that the final document is accurate without visually watching this change happen?

Now let’s think about this from the XBRL perspective. All XBRL does is attach information about the number to the number. Or for us spreadsheet focused accountants, the column and row information is attached to the number wherever the number goes. Let’s use a simple example. Your PP&E at September 30, 2011 for Subsidiary 1 is $1,200,000. XBRL tags the 1,200,000 with the dollar sign so we know it’s US dollars, the date so we know it’s for 9/30/11 and that it’s PP&E for Sub 1. Now wherever this number is used you will be able to see this information. No more searching back through documents for the audit trail to confirm the number. I am over simplifying, but hopefully you are starting to see the benefit.

Because of the XBRL tag, there is no need for Excel linking. Merely refer to the element name and date and the number will be updated in every instance correctly. No more Find & Replace! No more Excel #REF#!

This decreases the amount of time for both internal and external reporting departments. Accounting departments are not a revenue generating department. We should be a value-add department though. XBRL allows for quick and accurate changes. This changes the accounting world. Now when management asks for a report, we will be able to create and deliver it quickly and efficiently. Information will become timely thereby increasing our value to our companies. And we won’t be doing administrative tasks to ensure data integrity and accuracy.

With XBRL, we no longer have to worry about taking weeks or months to process our financial reports. XBRL gives us the ability to get reports completed at the speed of light (well almost) and the list of benefits stemming from XBRL grows daily. Many companies are already incorporating XBRL into their accounting departments to take advantage of this technology. Here are some features to look for when you consider implementation:

Ability to review online while not requiring users to be online if they so desire – I’ve never been able to convince upper level management to make changes online and selecting a package that doesn’t force them to do so will make your life a little more pleasant
Multi-User Collaboration – allows multiple users to review documents and data at the same time
Analyze – analysis features allow users to compare their financial performance vs. peers and competitors
Document Management – Look for solutions that include version control and change tracking all fully integrated with Microsoft Excel and Word
Change Once, Change Everywhere – updates to tagged data automatically change in all instances within the document
Data Aggregation – The solution must use XBRL to aggregate data. Seek out a solution that is built on XBRL. Many solutions are adding XBRL as a module or as a requirement to get the beloved yes on the RFI.

No matter what vendor you chose, make sure that you have confidence in your reports. XBRL makes data accurate, reliable, and reusable. We accountants are sometimes overworked, underappreciated, and undervalued. XBRL just might change all that!

Technology when you want it. People when you don’t.

Emily Huang - VP, Business Technology & Cofounder — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:35:10 +0000

This blog post talks about how the Esurance slogan “Technology when you want it” ties into Rivet‘s belief in giving their clients options when it comes to XBRL filings. The post goes into detail about the different ways Rivet helps make the XBRL filing process more efficient.

You may have heard the slogan, “Technology when you want it,” from Esurance recently. As a former employee of Esurance (I worked for Esurance as the Director of Business Intelligence between 2000 and 2003), I have to say that I quite like the rebranding that happened in 2010 to replace the pink-haired female spy named Erin! I never truly understood what a spy had to do with auto insurance.

So how does auto insurance connect to Rivet Software you ask? Auto insurance buyers and policyholders like to have options. Similarly, options are very important to public companies that need to comply with the SEC XBRL mandate.

First and foremost, Rivet is a software company. Our mission is to create the best SaaS-based software to support the full lifecycle of XBRL – from data creation, presentation, assurance to consumption by regulators, analysts and the mass market. However, we also understand that technology alone sometimes can’t fully handle complex challenges. This is the main reason why we have compliance services & professional services departments that can provide assistance to companies that need “people” to help them navigate the complex processes of XBRL compliance and be more efficient with the financial disclosure processes.

Technology when you want it

We have customers that are completely comfortable using our financial reporting software Crossfire to complete their XBRL filings. Our software is designed for accountants, so the complexities of XBRL are hidden and don’t require customers to learn all the ins and outs of XBRL. Our matured technology platform has proven to be user-friendly and efficient to handle block and detailed tagging and improve the last-mile close process.

T. Rowe Price has been our customer since the SEC XBRL Voluntary Filing Program (VFP), and has gained tremendous knowledge of XBRL in the last few years. Candace Knott (working in the CFO group at T. Rowe Price) has told us,

“We are a risk-aware organization, so outsourcing our XBRL reporting was not an option for us,” said Knott. “Even as we worked on our voluntary filings, we began to plan and prepare for the detailed note tagging requirements.” T. Rowe Price could have outsourced the XBRL reporting function but instead they used their XBRL filing as an opportunity to learn more about standards-based financial information management. Technology is an enabler for them to take the project in-house. The filing agent handling T. Rowe’s filings commented on the last detailed tagged XBRL filing submitted by the T. Rowe team as one of the best DFN filings they have seen. I know Candace was thrilled to hear that! Job well done indeed.

Some of our customers came to us because of the mandate, and discovered there is so much more our software can do for them beyond XBRL compliance. This is from Joe Wakham, the Financial Reporting Manager of NHI (National Health Investors):

“I’ve used Crossfire to develop spreadsheets to support my reporting. It’s allowed me to produce more detailed reports than ever before because I don’t have to worry about dealing with each number manually. The reports are both more detailed and more flexible. The GL integration has allowed me to get to my data quicker- for my reporting and to answer questions quickly and easily. Take for example my quarterly revenue report. The information in this report is easily manipulated- I can get different looks and views of the data to get valuable information and insight. Using Crossfire means that I don’t spend my time digging for numbers- I develop the reports and start answering those tough questions.” Since Crossfire is an integrated platform for both internal and external reporting, Joe is able to accomplish what he needs (XBRL compliance) and what he wants (answering tough business questions). For Joe, the technology is what enables him to take total control over the financial disclosure process.

People when you don’t

We also have many customers who have chosen the full-service solution we provide. We do all the actual tagging work and customers are engaged for reviewing at every stage of the process. They have outsourced compliance, but they don’t outsource responsibility.

XBRL is still new to many filing companies. Having dedicated, knowledgeable and experienced people that can help when filing deadline approaches is definitely a plus for most companies.

In my opinion, it’s quite logical that most companies have chosen full-service initially. It’s new, companies are short on resources as is, and no matter how you look at it, technology could be intimating.

When the SEC mandated that all public companies prepare and submit their financial filings in XBRL format, Quicksilver knew its lean accounting team did not have the capacity or expertise to take on this additional burden. It clearly needed help. They need to meet the SEC’s XBRL requirements without interruption to its daily business operations.

“We have a small staff,” said Brian Dutton, Assistant Controller for Quicksilver. “There was no one in-house that had the bandwidth to take on the additional responsibility of tagging our financial data and preparing XBRL reports each quarter.” Ideally, Quicksilver wanted to establish a long-term partnership with a company experienced in XBRL that could be trusted with its financial data and to handle the entire filing process quickly and efficiently.

The companies that successfully utilize Rivet resources treat Rivet as an extension to their own team. The whole team works on defining milestones, selecting best elements, reviewing changes. Teamwork is the key to guarantee on-time and high-quality filings.

Options are good

For companies like Quicksilver, they always have the option to take the reporting process in-house when they are ready and want to take it in-house. Since Crossfire is the exact same software that’s used by Rivet’s self-service clients and full-service clients, Quicksilver will gain familiarity with the software when they review the filings online. And since all the work done by the Rivet Services Team stays in the data repository, Quicksilver will not lose any of the work that’s done by the Rivet Team.

So, I do think Esurance got the slogan perfectly right this time. The slogan showed how Esurance understood the connection between product/service offerings and what the customers want and need.

[Special Event Webinar] XBRL Comparative Report with Paige Hamack, Microsoft Corporation

Rivet Software — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:36:18 +0000

There are over 13,000 tags in the 2011 US-GAAP taxonomy. You’ll use about 250 of them. Do you know which ones?

Save valuable by time by starting your XBRL tagging process armed with our XBRL Comparative Report. With this report, you’ll know what tags were selected by other companies in your industry- your peers. You’ll know what tags they used, what tags they avoided, and what elements they extended.

Joining us for this webinar is Paige Hamack from Microsoft. She will provide valuable insight into the benefits gained from conducting peer review as part of her quarterly and annual reporting process.

“An integral part of our XBRL reporting process at Microsoft is a quarterly analysis of the XBRL tags used by an alternating group of peer companies. This peer review helps us ensure that our XBRL reporting is complete and accurate and meets one of the most important objectives of XBRL, which is comparability of similar information across companies. To perform this review, we use a custom report created by Rivet.”

- Page Hamack, Microsoft

During this webcast, we’ll provide a tour of the comparative report and show you how you can use it to save time. Find the items you want to research further, be more informed about selections, and know how comparable your company will be based on your XBRL choices.

Title: XBRL Comparative Report with Paige Hamack, Microsoft Corporation
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

XBRL – 3 Timely Tips to Maximize Success

Natalya Kuskin - Senior Account Executive — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:10:07 +0000

You’ve heard this by now – starting mid-2011 and onwards, all companies that are registered with the SEC are required to submit their regulatory reporting in XBRL format. Using an agreed-upon and shared XBRL taxonomy to report financial data makes it easier to produce peer group comparison and benchmarking reports. XBRL enables quick access to data you can analyze, and more time for value added work… just like the GPS system in your car makes you more efficient getting around town.

What are the top 3 tips to maximize your success?

Create Consistency – Having consistency between your reports does matter. Lack of consistency can raise red flags with the SEC, investors, and analysts. Let’s start with the example of filing an SEC 10-Q, which acts as the window into your company’s house. Being consistent with the way you report your data in comparison to your peer group is the first step.

Use Compliance Analytics - A method called Compliance Analytics uses both pre-filing consistency and post-filing comparability analysis to help communicate the right image and to enhance your reporting reputation. Before you file, look at your data from a consistency perspective. Make sure your numbers and notes are tagged with an agreed-upon, shared XBRL taxonomy. This will make it easier to compare your previous filings to current ones, and your current quarter/year submission to your competitors’. Use your peer group’s tagging choices as a resource for taxonomy creation, because erroneous tagging will cause a red flag.

Fantastic Footnotes – The footnotes to your financial statements will also be tagged in XBRL, so the data can be used to compare companies more in depth than financial statement analysis alone. Once your filing is submitted, it will become free and public data that you and your stakeholders can measure against previous and peer group filings.

The opportunity to pull your existing Excel spreadsheets into a “GPS system” is long overdue. Smart companies are realizing that Compliance Analytics is an important factor in your XBRL filing because it facilitates reliable, accurate, and consistent financial information. Just imagine what 80% less admin work and more time to do value added work can change in the long run.

For more information, join us for a free webinar with guest speaker Paige Hamack from Microsoft – register »

Controller Product Demo: 30-Minute Overview, Wednesday, March 23

Rivet Software — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:37:30 +0000

Rivet’s Controller software integrates and streamlines the external financial reporting process to eliminate manual tasks while delivering a superior level of quality control. This solution leverages the power of XBRL to create efficiencies that dramatically improve the workflow of financial reporting cycles. Join us for a quick overview to get a taste of the power of Controller.

Date & Time:

Wednesday, March 23, 11:00am-11:45am MT (1:00pm ET) Register »

New Case Study: Quicksilver Resources

Rivet Software — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:57:38 +0000

When the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated that all public companies prepare and submit their financial filings in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format, Quicksilver knew its lean accounting team did not have the capacity or expertise to take on this additional burden. It clearly needed help. While Quicksilver was used to searching around for natural resources, locating a partner to assist with its financial filings was unexplored territory.

Webinar Announcement: Conducting Your Own Competitive Analysis

Rivet Software — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:45:44 +0000

“We are the industry leader!” “We have the highest accuracy in our filings!” Sound familiar? Most XBRL solution providers boast stats about their growth, accuracy, and sheer volume of XBRL filings they prepare, but you know how high the stakes are for you and your company. Filing errors, amendments, and public embarrassment can be avoided by selecting an XBRL partner you can trust, but how do you determine which provider that is?

Which XBRL solution provider has filed the most XBRL filings?
Who in the industry files the most accurate filings?
Who has filed the most filing errors? Which XBRL provider has filed the most amendments?

In 30 minutes, we’ll show you how to use free tools available to you online so that you can answer these questions for yourself, with confidence, without having to rely on a vendor or 3rd party analysis.

Title: Conducting Your Own Competitive Analysis
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Time: 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Outsource XBRL, Manage the Process In-House or Something In Between

Barclay Friesen - COO — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:36:48 +0000

Companies that fall into the last wave of the SEC’s XBRL filing mandate have more options than ever as new XBRL vendors are setting up shop on a regular basis. Word of caution: choose your provider with the same diligence you would choose a personal physician. There’s a lot at stake when you get into SEC regulations. XBRL financial reporting can be complex undertaking at first. It is not something you want to have to start over in the future.

Doing your homework and prep work now can save time and expense in the future. The first thing you need to determine is exactly who will be managing your XBRL filing? Your choice should be based on your company’s particular circumstances.

Option 1: Outsourcing

Most companies in the first two waves of the SEC mandate chose to outsource their entire initial XBRL filing. Many of these companies plan to eventually bring the process in-house once the fundamental data has been tagged, templates are developed and a system is in place for use in future filings.

If you decide to completely outsource your SEC filing requirement, you still need to understand the specifics of the SEC mandate relative to your company. The compliance responsibility is still yours, so you must be able to trust your XBRL service provider to fully support your efforts with compliance goals.

The outsourcing option enables companies to save on the costs of XBRL technology training and the extra IT infrastructure required to run the software. This includes ongoing maintenance fees associated with both the hardware and software. The degree of XBRL expertise necessary to meet a filing requirement once every quarter may be a core competency that can be more efficiently outsourced for some companies.

The major drawback with outsourcing is that you are relinquishing some control of your filing, and your staff doesn’t necessarily develop the expertise to examine and scrutinize the data you are submitting to the SEC.

Option 2: In-House

Buying technology and training your staff to meet the SEC filing requirements provides you with complete control of the final product. There is benefit to knowing the details behind the numbers in the external financial reports while selecting particular taxonomy elements for the financial statement line items. The initial costs may be higher than completely outsourcing. However, over time the ongoing expense may be lower with a successful implementation of XBRL technology and training. On the other hand, if you experience personnel turnover in your external reporting group, your training costs could remain higher over time.

In summary, taking the tagging and filing process in-house gives you the most control over your filing, but the investment in technology and training could be prohibitive.

Option 3: Outsource / In-House Combination

When you choose to outsource the technology while bringing the XBRL expertise fully or partially in-house, you are generally choosing the best of both worlds. This decision is driven by a company’s desired level of control, turnover expected in the external reporting role, and the cost vs. benefit of having in-house XBRL expertise, as opposed to outsourcing.

Again, you must keep in mind that you can outsource your XBRL tagging, but you can’t outsource compliance. It is a good idea to have someone internally who knows enough about XBRL to verify the accuracy of your filings. The software as a service (“SaaS”) business model has been in use for over 10 years and is continuing to gain traction in the marketplace as an efficient, secure and reliable technology option. By relinquishing certain controls over the systems when you choose a SAS 70 Type II SaaS model, you are freeing yourself from the burden of ensuring the security of the data.

To summarize this third option, you maintain control over your filing and your overhead is less than it would be if you chose a full outsource or in-house solution. This option often includes critical training and support from a dedicated team of CPAs, accountants, subject matter experts (SMEs) and XBRL techs.

One of the only negative aspects of this option is a perceived lack of control over financial data. At Rivet we counter this with a “customer empowerment business model” that allows clients to be as involved in the tagging process as they choose to be. You can have your staff fully trained by our experts from the beginning or you can opt to have our team manage your tagging for you.

In Conclusion

I advise companies to make decisions about XBRL based on three major criteria:

Whether buying technology, services or both from an XBRL provider, make sure it’s a company you can count on. How long have they been in business? How many XBRL filings have they submitted to the SEC? Do they have people on staff who can assist you throughout the process, with financial or technology questions?
What can you afford – in dollars and time? Can you make the initial investment necessary for bringing technology in-house? What about ongoing maintenance fees? Do you have staff with the time (and inclination) to become fluent in XBRL and “own” your filing? What is your budget for training?
What are your scheduling constraints? This is a big one. You need to plan ahead. XBRL financial reporting can be painless and relatively simple once you get a system implemented. However, the initial setup and/or training can be complex and time-intensive. When examining your options, be sure to give yourself enough time to get through the initial learning curve, regardless of which filing option you choose.

Bottom line: Do your homework! Measure twice – cut once. Ask lots of questions.

Crossfire 3.0 Released with New Online Reviewer’s Guide

Rivet Software — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:07:26 +0000

Just in time for the approaching SEC filing season, Rivet Software has launched an enhanced version of the Crossfire Financial Reporting Platform. Among the major improvements in Crossfire 3.0 is an integrated Online Reviewer’s Guide that is getting rave reviews from beta users. The new review system utilizes a single document that is stored, accessed and altered through Crossfire. This eliminates the need for multiple versions of a document as it progresses through the review process. Data integrity is maintained and there is less room for error.

Crossfire 3.0 also offers greater tag matching intelligence that makes it easier to add new content and make changes that are automatically updated throughout the document. In addition, multiple users can now collaborate on a filing with greater ease. XBRL templates can now be split between parties responsible for different portions of the document, and then merged back into a single master.

Current Crossfire users should attend a webinar this week to learn more about the new Online Reviewer’s Guide. If you aren’t currently using Crossfire for your XBRL financial filings, contact an expert at Rivet for more information.

Coming or Going Concern

Charlie Hymer, CPA - Regional Sales Director — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:31:05 +0000

I recently posted the blog, XBRL Accountants in the Hot Seat and thought that I should spend a little more time on the “going” concern of XBRL vendors. With the upcoming detail tagging mandate for Wave 1 filers and the Wave 2 mandate hitting at the same time, XBRL vendors will be working hard to ensure timely and accurate filings using software that scales to detail tagging. This Wave 1 and 2 double whammy will separate the XBRL experts from the wannabes. Now is a good time to evaluate your XBRL vendor/printer to ensure your filing will not get lost in the mix. But how do you do your due diligence? What should you expect from your provider? This is not a quantifiable question or answer, unfortunately.

When talking with your provider, it is critical to get a read on their ability to absorb this additional work. You can ask about professional services staffing and what the provider plans to do with staff growth. In addition, confirming that the software used is scalable and automated will help to determine if the provider is prepared for the additional work load. Although detail tagging may not be at the forefront of your brain yet, it is important that you understand how your provider will be using the software for detail tagging to confirm automation and efficiencies while they are working on your block tagging. Also, find out how many people work on the software from a development perspective. Does the provider have the development staff to support the software? And lastly, how does the industry perceive your provider? Are they the expert? How long have they been in business?

These questions will start to point you in the right direction to make sure your XBRL filing is done to your satisfaction.

I believe that the winds of change are upon us and we will see just a few companies emerge as the XBRL leaders. Rivet is continually being contacted by printers, law firms, accounting firms, and consulting firms asking us to help them provide quality XBRL services to them and their clients. Recently, Rivet has contracted with a large worldwide printer to provide XBRL services for its clients. This shows that the industry is starting to sit up and take notice of Rivet’s industry presence and leadership. Rivet is here to stay!