XBRL has emerged as a novel way of electronic communication of financial and business data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. Considering the benefits attached with implementing XBRL in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information, the regulators in India have also decided to implement XBRL in their reporting.
Here are some jargons which you will come across, when you read about XBRL Reporting, XBRL Filing or XBRL in Indian or XBRL in any context around the globe. Though key XBRL Terminology does not vary across countries, we at Volition LLP have made an effort to put across our knowledge on XBRL across to our readers through www.xbrlinindia.com.
XBRL India
XBRL India is the Indian Jurisdiction of XBRL International. Its main objective is to promote and encourage the adoption of XBRL in India as the standard for electronic business reporting in India. Members of XBRL India include regulators, stock exchanges, software companies and others.XBRL India has developed draft General Purpose Financial Reporting XBRL taxonomy for Commercial and Industrial Companies. It is currently developing XBRL Taxonomy for the banking sector.
XBRL Tagging
Also called as XBRL Mapping.XBRL Mapping involves Mapping or Tagging each and every element in the financial with each and every element in the Taxonomy. The idea behind XBRL is simple. Instead of treating financial information as a block of text, essentially, the XBRL technology allows electronic tagging of each individual item of data so that computers can work on the information using a set of rules. The electronic tags that are applied are standardized and are contained in taxonomies which are essentially the dictionaries used by XBRL that define the specific tags for individual items of data. The tags are applied using a tagging tool that retrieves the tags from the standards taxonomies and applies them to whatever format the financial statements are created in, such as Microsoft Word or Excel.
XBRL Generation
Creation of an instance document, after mapping will generate a .xml file. The .xml file is the final output which has to be filed with MCA. The generation of this file through software is called XBRL Generation.
Validation
The process of scrutinizing the instance document (.xml) generated from the software for errors is called Validation.
Validation Tool
Regulator's Tool to check whether the output (instance document or .xml file) generated from the software is as per the standards and requirement or not.
XBRL Software
XBRL Software can be categorised as per their functions, Mapping Software, Tagging Software, Validation Tools, XBRL Report Generator, XBRL Viewers. All features combined in one software will be the most comprehensive software.Other inbuilt features could be the capability of accepting files for conversion i.e. input in various formats like .xls etc. Reporting Standard is one of the leading software developers providing XBRL Software for companies across the globe.
Concepts
XBRL taxonomies are the representations of business terms in a .xsd (xml schema document) format. The XBRL taxonomy are self explanatory, which can define business terms itself, or it can point to definitions of business terms that exist outside the XBRL taxonomy. For example, PropertyPlantandEquipment is the name of a concept that a taxonomy might express.
XBRL Format
XBRL Format is a format specified by MCA India, as designed by XBRL International for electronically filing the Financial Statements of the Company. The companies are required to file the Form 23AC along with the XBRL Instance Document.
Schema
Technical term for an element declaration file.
Tag (noun)
Identifying information that describes a unit of data in an instance document and encloses it in angle brackets (<> and ). All facts in an instance document are enclosed by tags that identify the element of the fact.
Tag (verb)
To apply tags to an instance document.
Prefix or namespace prefix
A shorthand sequence of letters for a namespace; "in-gaap," for example, is a common prefix for the namespace http://xbrl.in/in-gaap/2011-01-31
Label
Human-readable name for an element; each element has a standard label that corresponds to the element name, and is unique across the taxonomy.
Label type
A distinguishing name for each distinct element indicating the circumstances in which it should be used; each is given a separate defining role to use in different presentation situations.
Element
XBRL components (items, domain members, dimensions, and so forth). The representation of a financial reporting concept, including: line items in the face of the financial statements, important narrative disclosures, and rows and columns in tables.
Element definition
A human-readable description of a reporting concept. From an XBRL technical point of view, the element definition is the label with the type "documentation," and there are label relationships in a label relationships file, but from a user point of view the definition is an unchangeable attribute of the element.
Extension taxonomy or extension
A taxonomy that allows users to add to a published taxonomy in order to define new elements or change element relationships and attributes (presentation, calculation, labels, and so forth) without altering the original.