Which of the following is the underlying language the eXtensible Business Reporting Language XBRL uses?

Technology Excerpt 14.1

Run XBRL Right Now

If your accounting software doesn’t include XBRL—and few, if any, products have it now—it doesn’t mean you can’t start applying the feature immediately. I’ve created a method that gives you the opportunity to try XBRL now. Once you understand the process, you can use it with your own accounting software until XBRL is added eventually to your system.

Many software vendors are working to incorporate XBRL. For example, SAP will include ready-to-use XBRL templates for reporting, financial consolidation, modeling, simulation and planning, and budgeting. FRx Software, financial accounting/reporting software that works with some 50 accounting packages, will incorporate the function later this year. And 11 major accounting software vendors are members of the XBRL working group—a further indication of the industry’s interest in XBRL.

Do It Now

To see how XBRL works, go to www.xbrl.org/demos/demos.htm. You can download the demo or run it off the Web site. You will need Microsoft Access 2000. The demo shows you how to publish your general ledger trial balance in XBRL. Here’s a summary of the steps:

Step 1. Get a copy of your chart of accounts. Note that although this demo (see Exhibit 1, below) was prepared at the account level, you can present information in more detail, such as the type of transaction (invoice, payment, credit, debit entries to accounts receivable), or at a more summarized level, such as a financial statement line item.

Although it’s possible to enter this chart of accounts manually, it’s better to copy one of your own and use it in the demo.

Step 2. Get a copy of the appropriate XBRL taxonomy (template), which in this case is on the XBRL Web site. Note that this demo already includes the commercial and industrial taxonomy within the Access database table.

Step 3. Create a database table and map (assign or cross-reference) each general ledger account to the appropriate XBRL taxonomy element. If no available XBRL tag (technically called an element) meets your need, simply type in your own. It’s the ability to customize that makes the program extensible—capable of being extended to your individual needs. Again, the demo Access application provides this functionality, as you see in Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3.

This demo Access application provides the functionality to select one of your accounts and then assign an XBRL element to it.

This demo chart of accounts, which is in the Access database, contains XBRL elements assigned to each account line.

Step 4. Summarize your trial balance by the general ledger account for the period you wish. This provides you with an account number and a total by account for a given period, as shown in Exhibit 4.

This is the trial balance summarized by account for the period you select.

Step 5. Apply the map to the trial balance. What the map says, in effect, is: “When I use this general ledger account, replace it with this XBRL element.” Note Exhibit 2, which shows the map, and Exhibit 5, which shows the result of the mapping. Also note that the general ledger account is assigned to the “id” attribute (as shown in Exhibit 2). This is done only in the demo to help you see what is going on; it isn’t required.

This is the segment of the general ledger chart of accounts and the XBRL element plus all the other information needed to create a valid XBRL instance document.

Exhibit 6 shows the XML file called an XBRL instance document.

And finally, in less than 25 lines of code, the database query generates a file that is XMLcompliant with the XBRL specification. This XML file is called an XBRL instance document.

That’s all there is to it. Once the XBRL function is added to your software, these steps will occur automatically.

But the fact that your accounting software isn’t XBRL-compliant yet should not dissuade you from manually doing the job in the interim. It’s going to take a little knowledge about databases or, if you’re more comfortable in Excel, it can be done with that application, too.

Although this demonstration shows how to transform general ledger trial balance information into XBRL, the concept applies to literally any data—trial balance, other accounting system data, and even nonaccounting system data.

Some things to note:

• If the available taxonomies don’t work for you, you can easily modify a taxonomy or create your own.
• The data in the XBRL document you created are accessible from any of the most popular office productivity tools: Excel, Access, Word, or PowerPoint. XBRL still will work accurately if someone adds additional information to the document without your knowledge. It’s as if someone added a row of data to an Excel spreadsheet: It does not affect your spreadsheet.

Which of the following statement is not correct for eXtensible Business Reporting Language XBRL )?

What is eXtensible Business Reporting Language XBRL explain?

Is XBRL a language?

Is XBRL a type of XML?