This paper provides the XBRL US position on the use of financial data standards and recommends adopting the freely available, open XBRL data standard for all financial data reporting required by U.S. regulators. Only the XBRL standard has 1) the appropriate format to render data computer-readable; 2) the appropriate information component to clearly and consistently portray definition, time period, units and other attributes of financial data and; 3) the appropriate identifier mechanism to persistently define needed identifiers such as reporting entity.
View this infographic for problems in today’s business to government reporting and this infographic for steps government can take to save billions with standards.
The gains for the US economy by adopting this approach will be substantial:
- Significant savings in data collection and processing costs for business, government and the American taxpayer
- Reduced burden (cost) on US businesses
- Consistent, comparable, timely information for investors, businesses and policymakers
