XBRL Round Table Conferences: 2023 and 2024 – Fostering Financial Reporting Innovation
The XBRL Asia Round Table (XART) conferences are key events for financial reporting professionals and regulators in Asia. Organized by XBRL International along with regional partners, these conferences enhance financial reporting standards, promote best practices, and improve transparency and accountability in business performance. Industry leaders, regulators, and experts come together annually to discuss innovative financial reporting approaches.
XBRL Round Table Conference 2023: Objectives and Key Highlights
The 2023 XBRL Asia Round Table conference, held in Tokyo, Japan, focused on advancing financial reporting standards and practices throughout Asia. The principal objectives were to promote sustainable finance, offer information on the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum (ABMF), and explore the digitalization of financial reporting frameworks.
This event provided a platform for exchanging ideas and best practices, particularly regarding the use of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) to improve financial compliance and transparency.
One of the central themes was the integration of ESG reporting into financial disclosures. ESG reporting has become an essential part of financial disclosures. This is due to the growing demands of stakeholders and investors for transparency regarding companies’ sustainability activities.
XBRL Round Table Conference 2024: Agenda and Focus Areas
The 2024 XBRL Asia Round Table recently took place in Kumamoto, Japan. Like last year, the conference discussed various new strategies in financial reporting and fostered collaboration among regulators, industry leaders, and financial professionals from across Asia.
Attendees at the Kumamoto XART meeting heard from several regional projects that centered on XBRL-enabled analytics for performance report distribution and compliance monitoring. Highlights from the 2024 conference are mentioned below:
- Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE): Senior Vice President Albert Chou provided information about Taiwan’s advancements with XBRL. The TWSE offers an online dashboard covering individual firms and various industry and sectoral analytical tools. These tools are populated with sustainability data provided by companies that are currently in line with GRI standards and converted into XBRL. They will also shortly be adding disclosures that are S1 and S2-compliant with the ISSB Standards.
- Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX): The IDX team showcased their remarkable progress in extending the use of XBRL standards. They are working on a comprehensive analytics and benchmarking tool, which received positive feedback at XART.
- India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE): Saba Curtay gave a detailed view of the NSE’s strategy for gathering information about listed companies using XBRL, including the BRSR sustainability dataset. The NSE intends to eliminate the option to file in PDF and mandate that all financial disclosures be provided solely in XBRL. This shift is aimed at improving risk scoring and alert systems for regulatory purposes.
The 2024 XART meeting demonstrated the importance of information exchange and collaboration across Asia. This success was mainly attributed to the organized cooperation with the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum (ABMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Bottom Line
The XBRL Asia Round Table conferences are useful for developing financial reporting standards and practices in Asia. By focusing on leveraging digital technologies, these events ensure that financial disclosures are transparent, comparable, and aligned with global best practices. Building on the achievements of 2023, the 2024 conference encouraged more innovation and cooperation in financial reporting.