XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is one of a family of "XML" languages which is becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and on the internet.
XBRL was developed to facilitate electronic exchange of Business reporting Data across various computer platforms. It supports the preparation, analysis and communication of business information. It also offers the benefits like:
Cost Saving
Greater Efficiency
Improved accuracy and Reliability
Greater Transparency
XBRL is being developed by an international non-profit consortium of approximately 450 major companies, organisations and government agencies. It is a freely available, market driven, open, global standard language. It is already being put to practical use in countries like USA, UK, Australia, China, etc.
XBRL provides business data on machine readable XML format with the help of Taxonomy and Instance Document.
Taxonomies are dictionaries used by XBRL. They define the elements (specific tags) for individual items of data (such as "net profit") and their interrelationship as per the regulatory requirements. Different taxonomies will be required for different financial reporting purposes. Different XBRL jurisdictions may have their own financial reporting taxonomies to reflect their local accounting regulations. Many different organisations, including regulators, specific industries or even companies, may require taxonomies to cover their own business reporting needs.
Besides assigning XBRL tag from taxonomy, information like unit of measurement, period of data, and scale of reporting etc. needs to be included in the instance Document. Once the taxonomy is determined in compliance with applicable regulations, the companies are required to generate valid XBRL Instance Document.