August 2023 Newsletter

August 2023

Mark Funkhouser to Keynote GovFin 2023: Empowering Governments, Modernizing Reporting, to be held in Washington, DC on November 9, 2023.

The former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, and internationally recognized auditing and municipal finance expert, author, and teacher in public administration, will share his insights at GovFin 2023. In a recent article, Mark noted about the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), “State and local officials must be proactive in this new era of accountability to the federal government because it’s unlikely the FDTA will be the last we see on this issue… While accountability to the feds is what has prompted this mandate, state and local governments should see it for the opportunity it presents: improving fiscal stewardship for the benefit of local communities.”

Other speakers newly added to the agenda include the elected City Auditor of Columbus, Ohio and the Chief Deputy Auditor, Ohio Auditor of State. See the agenda and register.

SEC announced an extension of the registration deadline for the EDGAR BETA test for Filing Fee Modernization. The Securities and Exchange Commission BETA will open on October 2, 2023 to allow testing of the technical and structured data aspects of the Filing Fee Disclosure and Payment Methods Modernization rule. On August 25, XBRL US’ Regulatory Modernization Group submitted a letter to the SEC expressing concerns that registrants may not have enough information to determine whether they wish to participate by the original deadline of August 31, 2023, given the limited information available about the BETA.

The SEC extended the registration period to end on December 8, 2023. The extension is a welcome step and will give registrants more time to decide and vendors the opportunity to learn more about the BETA so that they can better inform their registrant clients. Issuers are strongly encouraged to participate in the EDGAR BETA to ensure that the market is ready when compliance dates arrive.

XBRL US comments on SEC Proposed Collection of Form NRSRO; recommends transitioning to structured data now. With implementation of the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) coming soon, the XBRL US letter noted that now would be an opportune time to transition preparation of Form NRSRO to XBRL-CSV. The report would be more useful for data consumers and more easily prepared in XBRL-CSV format, and switching to structured, machine-readable data would move the Commission further along in complying with the FDTA.

SEC publishes final rule on cybersecurity risk management; requires inline XBRL for cybersecurity disclosures. The final rule Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure, requires periodic disclosures, presented in Inline XBRL, about a registrant’s processes to assess, identify, and manage material cybersecurity risks, management’s role in assessing and managing material cybersecurity risks, and the board of directors’ oversight of cybersecurity risks. The final rule requires Inline XBRL tagging to begin one year after initial compliance with the related disclosure requirement.

XBRL US Regulatory Modernization Working Group (RMWG) comments on SEC RXD Taxonomy and on SEC Taxonomy Development Approach. The RMWG letter related to the RXD Taxonomy provided input about the taxonomy developed to support the SEC final rule, Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers. The letter suggested that the SEC consider allowing filers to prepare their submissions in support of this rule using either traditional (XML) XBRL or Inline XBRL because most public company registrants are already preparing their financials in Inline XBRL. The rule currently calls for the use of XML-XBRL.

Separately, the RMWG submitted a letter to the SEC regarding the approach taken by the Commission to develop new taxonomies. Because of the significant increase in rule implementations with structured data requirements, the SEC has developed several new taxonomies to support implementation. Findings from a case study prepared by the RMWG and presented to the SEC, identified inconsistencies in labels, the use of multiple combinations of taxonomies, and other areas where clarification would help to prepare registrants when new rules are implemented. The RMWG letter made suggestions to the SEC to improve the efficiency of program rollouts for registrants.

XBRL US Events

Webinar: Government Reporting & the FDTA – Florida, Michigan, Utah
September 18, 2023, 3 PM ET
Attend this free 60 minute webinar and earn 1 CPE credit. Hear the Financial Administrator in the Florida Department of Financial Services, explain the status of their XBRL program. Learn from the Deputy State Auditor in the State of Utah about the importance of government financial data and their interest in obtaining standardized machine-readable data. Find out from the Fiscal Health Project Lead at the University of Michigan about the Michigan program to explore machine-readable data for local governments and why better, more timely data is so important for public policy.

Register now:https://xbrl.us/events/230918/

Conference: GovFin 2023 – Empowering Governments, Modernizing Reporting
November 9, 2023
Join government finance officers, regulators, accountants and technologists, at this one-day program on how federal, state and local government reporting is becoming more timely, transparent and efficient. Hear from keynote Mark Funkhouser, former Kansas City, MS Mayor, as well as speakers from other public sector organizations including Bloomberg LLP; Data Foundation; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); Global LEI Foundation; Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB); Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB); the State of Ohio; Wayne County, MI; U.S. Department of Education; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (representatives from both the Office of Municipal Securities, and Office of Structured Disclosure); and more.

Review the agenda and register: https://xbrl.us/events/govfin23/
Early pricing ends September 8

XBRL US White Papers and Blogs

Blog Post: Tangible benefits of data standards for business and regulators

XBRL US published a case study on the Standard Business Reporting (SBR) program in the Netherlands. The report was prepared by Campbell Pryde, CEO of XBRL US, and John Turner, CEO of XBRL International. The case study provides insights into the kind of business-to-government reporting that agencies involved in implementing the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) would find helpful as they plan the FDTA program.

Read the post.

White Paper: Data Standards and the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA)

This paper, sponsored by Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) explores the current state of data management and provides a roadmap to meet the FDTA requirements. The 400+ data sets collected by covered FDTA agencies are prepared in a variety of formats, including PDF, text, HTML, Word, XML, and XBRL. Most are not machine-readable or interoperable, and cannot be easily located, inventoried, or stored. Identifiers are not consistently applied which makes it nearly impossible to effectively evaluate risk. Reporting entities face duplicate reporting, and confusion in contending with numerous forms. Preparers and consumers are faced with lengthy technical documentation on how to report and use data, with no linkage between the data reported and the semantic data model. The paper describes what FDTA success looks like and addresses alternatives that might be considered. It provides a roadmap on how to achieve its goals by standing up a long-term data standards program.

Download the paper. Read the Executive Summary.

Upcoming XBRL US Steering Committee and Other Member Meetings

The Data Quality Committee will meet Thursday, October 5, at 9 AM ET. Details and registration soon – https://xbrl.us/dqc.

The Domain Steering Committee will meet Tuesday, September 19, at 2 PM ET. https://xbrl.us/events/dsc-230919 – all XBRL US Members are invited to attend

The Communications Steering Committee will meet Tuesday, September 19, at 3 PM ET. https://xbrl.us/events/csc-230919 – all XBRL US Members are invited to attend

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

The Standard Government Reporting Working Group will meet Tuesday, September 26, at 12:30 PM ET. (membership@xbrl.us for details)

The XBRL Technical Advisory Committee (XTAC) will meet Wednesday, September 13, at 4 PM ET. (membership@xbrl.us for details)

XBRL US Members are encouraged to attend and get involved.

XBRL Data Community – Request XBRL API provisioning with an organizational email address for a 10-day trial of full access to evaluate this benefit.

Live Support – Anyone can use this Google Meet link on Mondays between 3:30 and 4:30 PM ET to get help from XBRL US Staff with the XBRL API, our resources, etc. Need a different time? Schedule an appointment online.

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, starting at $550 annually). Find out more about the benefits of membership and how to become involved by visiting https://xbrl.us/benefits.