What is XBRL Filing? Do I Need It?
XBRL is an abbreviation of Extensible Business Reporting Language. It is widely used for presenting data which ensures hassle-free analysis, thereby bringing down costs, time and effort of businesses. It ensures paperless reporting and is therefore gaining widespread acceptance across different parts of the world.
Here are some of the major reasons why XBRL filing is essential for businesses.
Presence of multi-lingual support
XBRL enables concept definitions to be compiled in numerous languages. The translations of definitions can be done by third parties. Therefore a report can be shared in different languages effortlessly. Businesses make large-scale use of this feature since it ensures automatic opening of reports to various communities.
It can be customized
Flexibility is one of the major plus points of XBRL. It can adapt to the specific requirements of reporting. Any type of unstructured data, which is acquired from multiple formats and sources can be organized through the use of XBRL.
Data consumption and analysis
XBRL who acquire data electronically can automate its handling process and make significant time savings which would otherwise be spent on organization and re-entry of information. The software can immediately authorize the data, detect the mistakes and drawbacks which can be addressed then and there. It will also help in analysis, choose and process data which can be reused.
Users, on the other hand, can be diverted to a higher, more significant aspect of analysis, reporting, review, and decision-making. In this manner, investment analysis can save a significant amount of effort, smoothen selection and comparison of data. Lenders will be able to bring down costs and enhance the speed of their financial dealings with borrowers. Government department and regulators can collect, authorize and access data faultlessly which they have failed to do in the past.
Precision in data collection and reporting
Through XBRL reporting, businesses can automate their data collection process. For instance, data from different departments of a firm using different accounting systems can be assembled in an affordable, cheap manner once the sources of these details are upgraded. After the data is collected in XBRL, various types of reports utilizing subsets of data can be produced effortlessly.
It provides clear definitions
XBRL enables the creation of authoritative definitions known as taxonomies, which captures the meaning of all terms which are included in a business report and the link between them. These taxonomies are created by government agencies, regulators, accounting standard setters etc. to clearly explain the data which has to be reported. XBRL doesn’t restrict the exact kind of information which is explained.
XBRL is all-inclusive
One of the major plus points of XBRL filing is that it can accommodate numerous domains for business reporting. Apart from XBRL financial reporting, it can also be used for performance and operation reporting in a number of cases. Other domains which are covered by XBRL include transaction-based reporting, sustainability reporting, and internal reporting. This is one of the major reasons and regulatory agencies have started using XBRL.
To know how we can help you with your UK HMRC iXBRL reporting, drop a line at enquiry@datatracks.co.uk and schedule a discussion with an iXBRL expert.
