By Scott Theis, President/CEO, Novaworks; Chair, XBRL US Domain Steering Committee (DSC); Leader, XBRL Technical Advisory Committee for XBRL US (XTAC); Member, XBRL Standards Board and OIM Working Group.
XBRL is modernizing and simplifying. The XBRL community has begun laying the groundwork for a new XBRL technical specification that can be put in place to make XBRL easier to learn, better aligned with today’s development community, and even stronger for AI.
Over the past few years, the XBRL community has been working towards significant modernization of the XBRL technical specification. The XBRL International Standards Board and the XBRL US Technical Advisory Committee (XTAC) have focused on identifying evolving needs among the software, data consumer, and regulatory communities in order to create a better, stronger, and more resilient specification.
Why now?
1. Widespread adoption. The XBRL standard is used in 200+ programs, by 130+ regulators. Millions of organizations rely on XBRL to support their reporting. With broader use comes more opportunities for different kinds of data. The new specification will make it even easier to handle expanding regulatory programs.
2. The rise of Artificial Intelligence. AI works better with structure and standards and simplicity. Requirements set out for the new specification will reduce syntax complexity, helping AI algorithms more immediately and reliably grasp the meaning of reported data.
3. Increased demand. The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) calls for nine U.S. agencies to collect data in structured, standardized format. That means a lot of taxonomies to build. Enhancements to the XBRL specification aim to make the building of taxonomies simpler and more intuitive, with a shallower learning curve.
4. The need for state-of-the-art technology. The new generation of developers are savvy to object level modeling, and the popularity of XML is declining. XBRL specification enhancements are syntax-independent, reduce the need for XML expertise, and emphasize object level data modeling.
Rest assured, this does not mean that the 200+ existing programs that currently use the XBRL standard will be undergoing radical change. The current XBRL specification is not going away. The new specification will build on the work of the last 25 years, making the standard better, faster, and easier to understand.
Proposed requirements for the new XBRL specification are now out for public review. This document outlines the goals as well as the general requirements for the next generation of XBRL. It is critical that the requirements be comprehensive to serve the future of XBRL worldwide. Download the proposed XBRL Taxonomy Model Requirements XBRL.
Stay tuned for more updates and specifics — Better yet, get involved. Here’s how:
- Read the Requirements document and give us your input (review period closes 2/16/26)
- Join XBRL US’ XBRL Technical Advisory Working Group (XTAC) - email info@xbrl.us to learn how.
- Join the XBRL International OIM Spec Group - email info@xbrl.us.
