What is XBRL?
XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data, which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information. It offers cost savings, greater efficiency and improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data. XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is already being put to practical use in a number of countries and implementations of XBRL are growing rapidly around the world.
XBRL is an open, royalty-free software specification developed through a process of collaboration between accountants and technologists from all over the world.
What is the future of XBRL? XBRL is set to become the standard way of recording, storing and transmitting business financial information. It is capable of use throughout the world, whatever the language of the country concerned, for a wide variety of business purposes. It will deliver major cost savings and gains in efficiency, improving processes in companies, Governments and other organisations.
Does XBRL cause a change in accounting standards? No. XBRL is simply a language for information. It must accurately reflect data reported under different standards - it does not change them.
How does XBRL work? XBRL makes the data readable, with the help of two documents - Taxonomy and instance document. Taxonomy defines the elements and their relationships based on the regulatory requirements. Using the taxonomy prescribed by the regulators, companies need to map their reports, and generate a valid XBRL instance document. The process of mapping means matching the concepts as reported by the company to the corresponding element in the taxonomy. In addition to assigning XBRL tag from taxonomy, information like unit of measurement, period of data, scale of reporting etc., needs to be included in the instance document.
More information about XBRL: Please visit www.xbrl.org
MCA General Circular No. , Dated : June 7, 2011