September, 2021 Newsletter

The Federal Government and individual agencies are rapidly recognizing the value of structured data. Recent legislation and regulatory actions show the increasing call to treat data as a strategic asset and embrace standardization to safeguard decision-useful data.

Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021 Signed by President – Requires Agencies to Post Budget Materials in Structured Data Format.

The legislation requires federal agencies to publicly post funding requests that include detailed financial and text information. Text of the bill states that materials shall be posted:

“(i) as an open Government data asset;

(ii) in a manner that enables users to download individual reports, download all reports in bulk, and download in bulk the results of a search, to the extent practicable; and

(iii) in a structured data format, to the extent practicable.”

The law also requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to maintain an index of each agency that submits their justification and where to access it, as well as a single data set of the justification data in a structured data format.

Public utilities and other FERC filers can begin submitting XBRL forms starting Oct 1.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) notified filers that XBRL submissions can begin on October 1, 2021 for those filers that need to meet the first deadline for quarterly filings on December 31.

FERC also announced that they have converted ten years of historical data that was originally submitted through the legacy Visual FoxPro (VFP) application. The migrated download of financial data is FERC staff’s best estimation of what the filing would have been if it had been prepared according to FERC’s new XBRL Taxonomy. Historical FERC filings can be used to build an XBRL database for FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-F, 2, 2-A, 3-Q electric, 3-Q natural gas, 6, 6-Q, 60, and 714. Going forward, FERC data can be obtained through the FERC RSS feed.

SEC launches EDGAR Next, technical upgrades to data collection, to improve filer access, and announces Beta and public comment period.

EDGAR Next, which is described as improved filer access and account management, will be available to filers to test out during an EDGAR Beta period. Interested filers will be able to sign on to participate starting on October 12, 2021. The Commission is looking for public feedback to the technical proposal for EDGAR Next with comments due to be submitted by December 1, 2021. The EDGAR Beta period will continue while the Commission is reviewing technical changes under consideration.

In separate news, the SEC announced technical improvements to the FASB SRT Taxonomy. The Financial Accounting Standards FASB (FASB) has published release notes and a proposed Technical Guide, and SRT improvement documents for the SEC Reporting Taxonomy 2022. The Commission also announced that they have updated the Interactive Data Test Suite. Comments to the changes can be submitted to StructuredData@sec.gov.

SEC publishes draft Closed-End Fund and Document Entity Information Taxonomies.

A public comment period will be held until November 1, 2021 to collect feedback before the taxonomies are finalized. The Commission posted release notes as well as a link to the taxonomies in their announcement.

The Value Reporting Foundation, which is the merger of SASB and IIRC, announced the publication of the first release of their XBRL taxonomy. The taxonomy captures data about environmental factors, and allows companies to report based on 77 different industries. The final release incorporates technical feedback received during their public review period. With their announcement, the Foundation noted their plan to establish a Taxonomy Review Committee to assist in ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the taxonomy.

Moody’s Investor Service added to speaker lineup for XBRL US Investor Forum: Data that Delivers. The November 10, 2021 half-day forum features case studies presented by corporate financial planners, SEC reporting managers, SEC regulators, and standards organizations. Plus keynote speakers SEC Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw, and Leslie Seidman, Independent Corporate Director at General Electric and Moody’s, former FASB Chair. Register for this free program.

Data Quality Committee approves Version 16 of rules for SEC filers. During its September 29, 2021 meeting, the Data Quality Committee approved eight new automated checks and set an effective date for implementation of December 1, 2021. The rules were available for public comment from July 15 through August 31 and the latest release includes several existing rules. All public companies are encouraged to use the update DQC rules (XBRL US provides a free web-based service for this). Get details for the new rules.

Upcoming XBRL US Webinars

XBRL Updates for FERC Filers – Get Ready Now, October 20, 11 AM ET

Starting October 1, issuers must submit all filings in XBRL format. Attend this session for updates on the FERC Taxonomy, and learn how to render and validate a FERC XBRL-formatted submission. Find out how to access FERC historical filings in machine-readable (XBRL) format.

Register: https://xbrl.us/events/20211020

Working with SEC Data for Analysts, October 25, 1 PM ET

Highly granular, structured XBRL data gives incredible flexibility to data users. Financial data can be disaggregated and aggregated into a researcher or analysts’ own custom, normalization structure that best suits the analysis he or she needs to conduct. Attend this session to learn about the structure of the US GAAP XBRL Taxonomy and how the XBRL content generated from it can be used to your advantage.

Register: https://xbrl.us/events/20211025

The Data Quality Committee held its most recent meeting on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Get information about the Committee and upcoming meetings: https://xbrl.us/dqc

Upcoming XBRL US Steering Committee and Other Member Meetings

The Domain Steering Committee will meet Thursday, October 7, at 3PM EDT. https://xbrl.us/events/dsc-211007 – all XBRL US Members are invited to attend

The Communications Steering Committee will meet Tuesday, October 19, at 3 PM EDT. https://xbrl.us/events/csc-211019 – all XBRL US Members are invited to attend

The Regulatory Modernization Working Group will meet Tuesday, October 12, at 3 PM EDT. (membership@xbrl.us for details)

The Environmental Social Governance Working Group will meet Tuesday, October 26, at 4 PM EDT. (membership@xbrl.us for details)

XBRL US Members are encouraged to attend and get involved.

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.

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.