August / September 2019

Legislative and Regulatory News

XBRL US News

About XBRL US and Membership

Legislative and Regulatory News
SEC Publishes Draft EDGAR Filer Manual for Public Review

The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a draft EDGAR Filer Manual (Volume II) (Version 52). The EFM draft has been published to solicit input and aid filers in preparing for potential EDGAR System changes, scheduled for September 30, 2019. If approved, the final version of the EFM will be made available on or about September 30, 2019.

Read the release: https://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/specifications/edmanuals-vol2-52_d.htm


SEC Analyzes Extension Elements in XBRL Filings

The SEC conducted an analysis of extensions used in XBRL submissions. While there is little change in the overall rate for filers from 2017 to 2018 (hovering around 18%), accelerated filers use of extensions has come down slightly versus prior period, and is now more consistent with other filers at 18%.

Read the release: https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/trends_2019


SEC Chief Economist Speaks on Big Data at NBER

S.P. Kothari, Chief Economist and Director, Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, at the Securities and Exchange Commission gave a speech on July 13 at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) conference on big data and high-performance computing, where he referenced the value of structured data and the Legal Entity Identifier.

Read the speech: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/policy-challenges-research-opportunities-era-big-data


SEC Publishes Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation on Inline XBRL

The SEC interpretation clarifies issues related to compliance timing, use of exhibits and other topics.

Read the guidance: https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/interactive-data-cdi


SEC Publishes Modernization of Regulation S-K, Items 101, 103 and 105 Rule Proposal

On August 8, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a rule proposal, Modernization of Regulation S-K, Items 101, 103 and 105. Item 101 covers general development of business and narrative description of business; Item 103 covers legal proceedings; and Item 105 cover risk factors. The objective of the proposal is to modernize the description of business, legal proceedings, and risk factor disclosures that registrants are required to make pursuant to Regulation S-K. Proposed amendments do not require the use of standards to improve the usefulness of these disclosures which is a clear oversight. XBRL US will be submitting a comment letter to ensure this issue is raised. Public comment is due October 22.

Read the proposal: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/23/2019-17410/modernization-of-regulation-s-k-items-101-103-and-105


FASB Publishes Two ASUs for Public Review

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) published proposed accounting standards for public review and comment on Investments—Equity Securities (Topic 321), Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): and 33-10442, Investment Company Reporting Modernization, and Miscellaneous Updates. The US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy, published in the last quarter of each calendar year, is a compilation of taxonomy updates released through the year. Each proposed update has a comment period. There is no annual comment period for the taxonomy.

Read the SEC release: https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/announcement/osd-announcement-081419-proposed-reporting-taxonomy-update


California State Senate Bill 598, Open Financial Statements Act, Moving Forward

Senate Bill 598, which requires the creation of the Open Financial Statements Commission, a nine-member commission in the State Treasurer’s office, has passed the California State Senate, and three Assembly committees, all on unanimous vote. The bill would require the Commission, by January 1, 2021, to report to the Legislature and make recommendations regarding how and whether to transition financial reporting by state and local agencies to a machine readable format.

Read the bill: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB598


XBRL US News
XBRL US State & Local Working Group Publishes 2nd CAFR Demonstration Taxonomy Release

The working group announced the start of a public exposure period for the new release which incorporates feedback received on the first release. The working group also announced that Will County, Illinois, is the first local government to publish financials in XBRL format.

Read the release: https://xbrl.us/news/cafr-taxonomy-release2
Participate in public review: https://xbrl.us/xbrl-taxonomy/2019-cafr/
View Will County Illinois’ XBRL report: https://www.willcountyauditor.com/financial-and-statistical-reports


XBRL US Comments on Federal Data Strategy Year 1 Action Plan

XBRL US responded to the White House Office of Management and Budget, Federal Data Strategy Year-1 Action Plan. The XBRL US letter noted that to attain the long-term vision of the Federal Data Strategy to better govern and leverage the Federal Government’s data, requires developing and implementing a single cross-agency data standard that can accommodate financial data – that standard should be XBRL.

Read the XBRL US comment letter: https://xbrl.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/XBRL-US-Comment-RE-Federal-Data-Strategy-Year-1-Action-Plan-7-8-2019.pdf
Read the Federal Data Strategy Year 1 Action Plan: https://strategy.data.gov/action-plan
Read the M-19-18, the Federal Data Strategy Plan – A Network for Consistency: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/M-19-18.pdf
Review more details about the Federal Data Strategy Plan: https://strategy.data.gov


XBRL US Data Quality Committee Publishes 10th Release of Rules for Public Review

The DQC seeks comment through September 16, on version 10, which includes automated checks for inconsistent preparation of data related to variable interest entities; and for situations where values reported covering a duration of time do not sum to the value that should represent the total of those values over time. The DQC also approved version 9 of the DQC Rules for use, and set a target of September 30 for implementation by all filers and service providers.

Read the release: https://xbrl.us/news/dqc-ruleset10-public-review
Participate in the public review: https://xbrl.us/data-quality/rules-guidance/public-review
Review and use the latest approved DQC Rules: https://xbrl.us/rules-guidance


XBRL US Comments to SEC Fixed Income Advisory Committee

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee held a meeting on July 29, 2019 during which municipal issuer disclosures was addressed, among other topics. XBRL US submitted a comment letter to the Committee, recommending the use of data standards to increase transparency and improve efficiencies in the municipal securities markets.

Read the letter: https://xbrl.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/XBRL-US-Comment-RE-SEC-Fixed-Income-Advisory-Committee-File-Number-265-30-7-29-19.pdf


XBRL US and Northern Illinois University to Host Municipal Finance Data Forum, October 3, Naperville, IL

Public sector and financial data standards experts will discuss how standardizing reported data can improve the efficiency of disclosures by U.S. state and local governments. This forum will feature speakers from the Bond Buyer, the Illinois Office of the Controller (IOC), Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies, Truth In Accounting, Will County, Illinois government, and more.

Learn more and register: https://xbrl.us/events/muniforum-20191003


XBRL US Announces Investor Forum: Driving Actionable Analytics, Nov 4 in New York

FASB Chairman Russell Golden will provide a keynote address at the Forum, which is hosted by Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, with sponsorship by CFA Institute, and CFA Society New York. The half-day event is free to the public, but registration is required. The program will include sessions on topics including evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, new reporting domains such as municipal securities financial reporting, the future of quarterly financial reporting, and legislative actions related to standards.

Read the release: https://xbrl.us/news/fasb-chair-keynote-investor-forum
Learn more about the program and register: https://xbrl.us/events/investor-forum-2019


Replays of Recent Events

  • SEC FAST Act Cover Page Tagging Update, August 29 – https://xbrl.us/events/20190829
    Large Accelerated Filers are now beginning to comply with the SEC’s new FAST Act requirements for cover page tagging using Inline XBRL. During the implementation process, questions have arisen regarding exhibits, and other aspects of technical and rule compliance. Watch this replay for clarification on the rule requirements for issuers, plus a technical review of the preparation and submission process for cover page tagging. Speakers include Bryan Castrantas, Senior Manager, Richey May & Co. LLP, and Jay Knight, Partner – Bass, Berry & Sims PLC; Leader, Capital Markets Subgroup.
  • Data Quality RuleSets 9 & 10 August 22 – https://xbrl.us/events/20190822/
    Watch this replay to get a review of RuleSets 9 and 10, and listen to discussion with an SEC filer member of the Data Quality Committee (DQC) on why she chose to join, what kind of recommendations she makes, and why issuers should review and use the rules.

Recent Point of View Topics


Upcoming Speaking Roles for XBRL US Staff

  • XBRL – An Overview; National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Subcommittee on Accounting & Finance Fall 2019 Conference (September 11 – Milwaukee, WI)
  • Financial Data Standards for Government Reporting; Government Finance Officer Association (GFOA) Florida/Florida League of Cities – joint presentation with XBRL US member Shannon Sohl, of Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies (September 19 – online)
  • Machine-Readable WIP Data for Better Reporting & Analysis; National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) – joint presentation with XBRL US members Kristin Sharpe of Crowe LLP and David Hartman of IFIC Surety Group (October 9 – online)

Register to Attend XBRL US Data Quality Committee Meeting, Tuesday, October 1 at 9 AM EDT

At this meeting, industry leaders will participate in discussions and plans for developing guidance and rules for use by public companies complying with the XBRL requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Get information about the Committee and register to attend: https://xbrl.us/dqc


Upcoming XBRL US Member Meetings

XBRL US Members are invited to attend all sessions below, and get involved with our Steering Committees. Email membership@xbrl.us for details on the Steering Committee meetings listed below.

  • XBRL Data Community Update for Members: Wednesday, September 18 at 3 PM EDT
    register to attend: https://xbrl.us/events/20190918
  • The Domain Steering Committee: Thursday, October 3 at 3 PM EDT
  • The Communications Steering Committee: Tuesday, September 17 at Noon EDT
  • XBRL US Annual General Meeting: Monday, November 4 at 10 AM ET in New York (preceding the Investor Forum)
    register to attend: https://xbrl.us/forum-reg
  • Upcoming XBRL US Meetings: https://xbrl.us/membership



XBRL US Member News

Workiva Customer Submits First Multi-Document Inline XBRL Filing

Read the release: https://xbrl.us/news/workiva-20190906


About XBRL US and Membership

XBRL US Members are committed to engaging and collaborating with other members, contributing to the standard through involvement of their teams, and striving to build awareness and educate the market. Members of XBRL US represent the full range of the business reporting supply chain. This organization recently joined XBRL US:

Aquorn, Inc. creator of 1812, a cloud-based debt administration platform for public agencies to manage, report and analyze debt-related information. Designed to specifically address the unique challenges of managing a municipal debt program, the platform models and provides reporting on the many specialized cash flows unique to public debt, and more.
https://xbrl.us/aquorn

Not yet an XBRL US member? Maybe it’s time to consider joining XBRL US for yourself ($55 – $500/ year) or your organization (fees vary). Find out more about the benefits of membership and how to become involved by visiting https://xbrl.us/benefits.


About Data Quality

SEC filers should all use freely available, Data Quality Committee rules to identify and resolve errors in XBRL-formatted financials for more consistent, better quality data.

Learn about the Rules & Guidance https://xbrl.us/rules-guidance
Find Data Quality Certified applications: https://xbrl.us/certification
Check data quality & results: https://xbrl.us/filing-results


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