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Snapshot of IFRS Taxonomy
1. March 2011
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs®)
Snapshot: the IFRS® Taxonomy
This snapshot is a brief
introduction to XBRL
(eXtensible Business
Reporting Language)
and the XBRL
representation of the
IFRSs, known as the IFRS
Taxonomy.
The snapshot has been prepared by staff and is not
an official technical document of the IASB or IFRS
Foundation.
2. The IFRS XBRL initiative
The goal of the IFRS Foundation and its In the current economic climate where XBRL works in such a way that it allows XBRL can also easily handle language
independent standard-setting body, the transparency in financial reporting is financial information to be automatically differences and therefore ease the burden
International Accounting Standards Board regarded as vital, the regulatory and accessed, extracted and processed by associated with information translation.
(IASB), is to provide the world’s integrating investment community are requiring more, computers. The need to manually re-key
It is estimated that the use of XBRL could
capital markets with a common language increasingly complex business information to information to adapt it to specific needs is
reduce the time spent analysing a single
for financial reporting. be reported with greater accuracy and speed. removed.
financial statement by 15 - 30 per cent, and
XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting This demand places additional pressure on Issuers are able to compile financial reports this is without considering the improved
Language) was developed to provide a those who prepare, compile and analyse this more speedily and with less chance of error. accuracy of the data.
common, electronic format for business and information. However, the majority of this This in turn gives users access to more timely
The IFRS Foundation recognised the
financial reporting. Because both IFRSs and work continues to involve manual and accurate data, thereby enabling them to
potential impact that XBRL could have on
XBRL are intended to standardise financial processing and is therefore prone to time make better, more informed decisions and to
financial reporting. The Foundation also
reporting in order to promote transparency delay and (human) error, and is cost- produce more accurate reports in less time.
realised that if XBRL were applied in
and to improve the quality and intensive.
Because XBRL is adaptable and is not conjunction with IFRSs, it could improve
comparability of business information, the
XBRL could potentially solve - or at least restricted to particular formats or tools, XBRL access for users to financial information and
two form a perfect partnership.
mitigate - these problems. information can be transmitted to users in a could also support IFRS adoption and
variety of ways. Furthermore, the implementation.
information contained within an XBRL report
The IFRS Foundation therefore launched the
allows for increased comparability and
IFRS XBRL initiative in 2001 and the IFRS
therefore improved analysis.
Foundation XBRL Team was created.
2 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
3. The IFRS Foundation XBRL Team
The mission of the IFRS Foundation XBRL The IFRS Foundation XBRL Team maintains appoints
Team is to: create and provide a framework an ongoing dialogue with the IASB through Trustees of the IFRS Foundation
for the consistent adoption and the XBRL Board Advisory Group, which is
implementation of IFRSs with a high-quality composed of six IASB members, the oversee, review effectiveness,
XBRL Advisory informs
IFRS Foundation-developed IFRS Taxonomy Director of Technical Activities and the appoint and finance
Council
that is consistent with IFRSs. This mission is Chief Operating Officer. The team consults (strategic) consults consults
part of the adoption and implementation the Board Advisory on a broad range of IFRS Foundation
IASB
strategy of the IFRS Foundation and is strategic issues relating to the XBRL Team
advises advises
integrated with the development of IFRSs. implementation of IFRSs with XBRL. XBRL Quality
Review Team
(technical) creates creates
The IFRS Foundation XBRL Team is supported The team also consults with IASB technical
by two external committees: the XBRL staff and provides input on the structure
Advisory Council (XAC) and the XBRL Quality and modelling of IFRS disclosure IFRSs in XBRL
(IFRS Taxonomy) IFRS
Review Team (XQRT). requirements. reviews
The XAC provides strategic advice on the IFRS In the future, it is likely that XBRL will Illustration: XBRL governance at the IFRS Foundation.
Foundation’s XBRL activities, while the XQRT come to play an increasingly significant
reviews developed taxonomies in order to role in the IASB's standard-setting process.
achieve the highest level of quality by
providing input and offering practical
recommendations on the usability of the
IFRS Taxonomy from the perspectives of both
XBRL technology and financial reporting
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 3
4. The IFRS Foundation’s XBRL activities
Taxonomy development Support materials • The IFRS Taxonomy Guide, a technical guide
for users of the IFRS Taxonomy.
The IFRS Foundation develops a licence-free The IFRS Foundation produces a number of By providing the IFRS
• The IFRS Taxonomy Modules Manager, an
taxonomy known as the IFRS Taxonomy, support materials to facilitate the use and
online tool that guides users though the Taxonomy, the IFRS
that is consistent with IFRSs issued by the understanding of the IFRS Taxonomy,
IASB. It is developed in accordance with a including:
process of navigating and customising the Foundation seeks to
IFRS modules that make-up the IFRS
thorough, open, participatory and
• XBRL illustrative examples, which Taxonomy.
address the demand
transparent due process.
illustrate the use of the IFRS Taxonomy in for an electronic
By providing the IFRS Taxonomy, the IFRS financial statements, in accordance with Translations standard to transmit
Foundation seeks to address the demand for the XBRL architecture outlined in The IFRS
an electronic standard to transmit IFRS Taxonomy Guide.
Translations of the IFRS Taxonomy are IFRS financial
provided into key languages, in order to
financial information.
• xIFRS (IFRSs with XBRL), an online tool support users of IFRSs and the IFRS information
that supports viewing and understanding
Global outreach Taxonomy whose primary language is not
of the IFRS Taxonomy. xIFRS presents a English.
The IFRS Foundation makes a concerted view of the electronic IFRSs with
To date, the IFRS Taxonomy has been
effort to promote the use of XBRL in embedded XBRL.*
translated into more than 10 languages,
conjunction with IFRSs around the world.
• The IFRS Taxonomy Illustrated, a document including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French,
The IFRS Foundation also encourages
that presents the structure of the IFRS German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and
co-operation and communication with
Taxonomy in a simplified, visual format Spanish.
stakeholders of the IFRS Taxonomy.
that does not require knowledge of XBRL.
* eIFRS (the electronic IFRSs) is the IFRS Foundation’s online subscription service that contains the electronic consolidated editions of the IFRSs and accompanying documents. It can be accessed from the IFRS website at
http://eifrs.ifrs.org/.
4 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
5. What is XBRL?
XBRL is a data-rich dialect of XML (Extensible A typical business report on an Internet page A business report that has been prepared
Markup Language), the universally preferred is a closed and self-contained document. using XBRL is known as an instance document,
language for transmitting information via Although it can be viewed and transmitted and it is different to a standard business XBRL was developed
the Internet. using the Internet, its format and content is report. The information contained in the specifically to
fixed; neither the format nor the content can instance document is not closed and does
It was developed specifically to communicate
be changed unless you change the Internet not have a predefined, fixed format. The data
communicate
information between businesses and other
users of financial information, such as
page. can be used interactively because it can be information between
analysts, investors and regulators. As a result, to extract the information from
accessed, extracted and processed businesses and other
automatically by computers. This
XBRL provides a common, electronic format
such a report for computerised analysis
interactiveness is made possible by the use of users of financial
requires exporting or re-keying the data into
for business reporting. It does not change
a format that can be handled by computer
tags. information, such as
what is being reported. It only changes how
it is reported.
software. analysts, investors and
regulators
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 5
6. About XBRL tags
In XBRL, information is not Because XBRL tags are formed in a The right-hand side excerpt displays the Users would only encounter an XBRL report
universally-accepted way, they can be read same information from the same statement. as it appears in the left-hand side excerpt (ie
treated as a static block of and processed by any computer that has However, the formatting has been removed the human-readable version). This is because
text or set of numbers. XBRL software. to reveal the computer-readable XBRL tags XBRL tags are read and processed by
concealed beneath the human-readable computers, behind the computer screen.
Instead, information is broken down into To demonstrate how XBRL tags work, an
report. Rendering software is then used to convert
unique items of data (eg total liabilities = 100). example excerpt from a typical company’s
the XBRL tags in an instance document to
These data items are then assigned mark-up statement of financial position that has been An example of a statement line item and the
present the information in a human-readable
tags that make them computer-readable. For filed using IFRS and XBRL is displayed corresponding XBRL tag has been
format, such as a statement of financial
example, the tag <Liabilities>100</Liabilities> opposite. highlighted.
position or a cash flow statement.
enables a computer to understand that the
On the left-hand side excerpt, the company’s
item is liabilities, and it has a value of 100.
current assets are listed as six line items of
<ifrs:CurrentAssets contextRef="AsOf2009"
Computers can treat information that has text as they would appear in a statement, Assets unitRef="EUR">671629000</ifrs:CurrentAssets>
been tagged using XBRL ‘intelligently’; they starting with Assets, Current assets, Cash, etc, Current assets <ifrs:Cash contextRef="AsOf2009"
can recognise, process, store, exchange and and ending with Total current assets. Cash 28,700 unitRef="EUR">28700000</ifrs:Cash>
analyse it automatically using software. Trade and other current <ifrs:TradeAndOtherCurrentReceivables
receivables 585,548 contextRef="AsOf2009" unitRef="EUR">585548000</ifrs:Tr
Inventories 57,381 adeAndOtherCurrentReceivables>
<ifrs:Inventories contextRef="AsOf2009"
Total current assets 671,629 unitRef="EUR">57381000</ifrs:Inventories>
Left-hand side: example excerpt from a typical Right-hand side: the same example excerpt, but now
(human-readable) statement of financial position. displaying the computer-readable XBRL tags.
6 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
7. About XBRL taxonomies
XBRL tags are defined and As a result, taxonomies enable computers Taxonomies differ according to reporting
with XBRL software to: purposes, the type of information being
organised using reported and reporting presentation For a company
• understand what the tag is (eg whether it
categorisation schemes is a monetary item, a percentage or text);
requirements. Consequently, a company reporting in IFRS, the
may use one taxonomy when reporting to a
called taxonomies. • what characteristics the tag has (eg if it stock exchange, but use a different
IFRS Foundation
Taxonomies are the computer-readable has a negative value); taxonomy when reporting to a securities publishes tags for all
‘dictionaries’ of XBRL. Taxonomies provide
• its relationship to other items (eg if it is regulator. IFRS disclosures.
definitions for XBRL tags, they provide
information about the tags, and they
part of a calculation). Taxonomies are available for most of the These tags are
major national accounting standards around
organise the tags so that they have a This additional information is called
the world. For a company reporting in IFRS,
organised and
meaningful structure. meta-data. When information that has been
tagged with XBRL is transmitted, the the IFRS Foundation publishes tags for all contained within the
meta-data contained within the tags is also IFRS disclosures. These tags are organised
IFRS Taxonomy.
transmitted. and contained within the IFRS Taxonomy.
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 7
8. The IFRS Taxonomy
The IFRS Taxonomy is the XBRL The two are then combined and the result is a By publishing interim releases, the IFRS This ensures transparency and compliance
representation of the IFRSs, including set of XBRL computer files which make up the Foundation aims to support the early with best practice, and also provides quality
International Accounting Standards (IASs), IFRS Taxonomy. adoption of IFRSs by providing taxonomy assurance and opportunities to engage with
Interpretations, and the IFRS for Small and items for new IFRSs once they are published stakeholders in order to understand their
This year, the financial reporting content
Medium-sized Entities (SMEs), issued by the by the IASB, which eliminates the need for concerns and the impact that the IFRS
scope of the IFRS Taxonomy has been
IASB. early-adopting entities to create their own Foundation’s decisions will have.
expanded to include IFRS application and
taxonomy items.
The IFRS Taxonomy is an open core taxonomy, implementation guidance and illustrative
which means that it has been developed to examples that are commonly used by entities. The IFRS Taxonomy is developed through a
allow companies to tailor it to their specific This is intended to reflect IFRSs more formal system of due process and broad
needs by adding their own tags. Company- comprehensively, thereby supporting international consultation.
specific tags that are added to a taxonomy are preparers of IFRS financial statements in XBRL
End of annual taxonomy
known as taxonomy extensions. format. development cycle
Like the IFRS Bound Volume*, the IFRS In addition to the core taxonomy the IFRS
XBRL
Taxonomy is released once a year to Foundation, beginning in 2010, has also Quality Further Exposure IFRS New /
IFRS
Taxonomy Final IFRS Taxonomy
incorporate new IFRSs, improvements to started to publish IFRS Taxonomy extensions development*
Review taxonomy Draft IFRS Bound
Taxonomy
improved
Interim
Team development Taxonomy Volume IFRSs
existing IFRSs, and also changes in XBRL following the publication of new IFRSs by the releases
review
technology. IASB. These extensions are known as IFRS
Taxonomy interim releases. They contain
The annual development cycle of the IFRS
additional taxonomy items that reflect new or NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY to OCTOBER
Taxonomy involves the construction of an
improved IFRSs which are not included in—
XBRL technology framework (known as an *including consolidation of IFRS Taxonomy interim releases
and are therefore supplementary to—the core
architecture) and the implementation of
IFRS Taxonomy. Illustration: the annual development cycle of the IFRS Taxonomy.
up-to-date IFRS disclosure and presentation
requirements (ie financial reporting content).
* The IFRS Bound Volume is the printed consolidated text of the IASB's authoritative pronouncements and the accompanying documents—illustrative examples, implementation guidance, bases for conclusions and
dissenting opinions—as issued by the IASB at the beginning of a calendar year. The IFRS Bound Volume is available from the IFRS e-shop at http://buy.ifrs.org.
8 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
9. Due process guiding considerations
Business considerations Functional considerations Usability Technical considerations
Consistency with IFRSs Stability The IFRS Taxonomy is usable throughout the Compliance
financial reporting supply chain in all
The IFRS Taxonomy reflects and is consistent The IFRS Taxonomy is intended for use scenarios and geographic regions where IFRSs The IFRS Taxonomy is compliant with all
with IFRSs at all times. Common-practice or throughout the financial reporting supply are implemented, thereby improving market specifications recommended by XBRL
industry-specific disclosures which are not chain. Consequently, the XBRL architecture transparency, supporting better analysis and International.
included in IFRSs are not included in the and financial reporting content of the IFRS reducing the reporting burden. New technologies and best practices
IFRS Taxonomy. Taxonomy are developed to ensure that the
taxonomy is stable and sustainable, although Interoperability The IFRS Foundation considers the impact of
Time line
alignment with IFRSs requires necessary The IFRS Taxonomy ensures that new XBRL technologies (specifications) and
The development time line of the IFRS amendments to the taxonomy from a interoperability between different software best practices developed by XBRL
Taxonomy is aligned with the IASB delivery financial reporting perspective. systems is possible. International.
timetable as closely as possible (ie with the
Extensibility
publication of the IFRS Bound Volume).
Users of the IFRS Taxonomy are permitted to
Availability
extend it for their specific needs.
The IFRS Taxonomy and all related files and
materials are freely available.
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 9
10. Applying XBRL to financial statements
Step 1: choose a taxonomy Again, there are some cases when a company may not create an extension. For example, the
company is filing with an agency and the agency has prohibited the use of extensions. In these
In order to create an instance document, a company must first identify a taxonomy to use. In cases, the company must identify an element from the taxonomy provided.
some cases, a company may not have the choice of the taxonomy it uses. For example, the
company is filing with an agency and the agency has prescribed a specific taxonomy that Step 4: create tags and an instance document
must be used. If a taxonomy is not prescribed then a company must decide whether to use a
Once all line items and their equivalent elements have been identified (and/or created),
published taxonomy, or to create its own taxonomy, or do a combination of the two and use a
numeric facts (monetary, decimal or share values) or text facts from the statement are tagged
published taxonomy but add items that are specific to its own reporting needs.
using XBRL software. These tags associate the facts with the taxonomy (and extension)
Step 2: compare information elements, and are used to generate an instance document. The instance document should then
be reviewed and checked (validated).
Once the taxonomy is chosen, a company must compare the line items in their chart of
accounts or financial statements with the elements contained in the chosen taxonomy. The
company must then identify the taxonomy elements that are equivalent to these line items. IFRS Taxonomy 2010
For example, the statement may report the company's liabilities, and if the taxonomy [210000] Statement of financial position, current /
non-current - Consolidated financial statements
contains the element liabilities, then this element can be used by the company. This process is
Statement of financial position
known as mapping and can be done manually using a spreadsheet or using an XBRL viewing Assets
tool. Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment IAS 1.54, IAS 16.73
Example excerpts from a typical company's statement of financial position and the IFRS Investment property IAS 1.54, IAS 40.76,
IAS 40.79
Taxonomy are displayed on the right-hand side (a statement line item and the corresponding Goodwill IAS 1.54, IAS 36.134,
IFRS Taxonomy element have been highlighted). IAS 36.135, IFRS 3.B67
Intangible assets other than goodwill IAS 1.54, IAS 36.134,
IAS 36.135, IAS 38.118
Step 3: create extensions Investments accounted for using equity method IAS 1.54,
IFRS 8.24, IFRS 8.28
If the company's financial statements contain line items that do not have equivalent
taxonomy elements, then a company must create its own element, known as a taxonomy Right-hand side: example excerpt from the IFRS
Left-hand side: example excerpt from a typical
extension. Taxonomy viewed using an XBRL tool.
statement of financial position.
10 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
11. The origins of XBRL
XBRL is highly adaptable (extensible). Because XBRL was originally developed in 1998 by a There are currently almost thirty XBRL The growing number of XBRL jurisdictions
it is an open standard without licence fees, Certified Public Accountant to improve the jurisdictions around the world. Each reflects the growing emergence of the
XBRL is software and hardware independent. exchange, publication and analysis of jurisdiction is responsible for creating standard around the world.
As a result, data that has been tagged in XBRL business information, including financial taxonomies - generally for the main local
can be transmitted in a variety of formats and data. accounting standards - and for promoting and
using a variety of tools. XBRL’s adaptable facilitating the implementation of XBRL in
Today, the ongoing development of XBRL is
nature also means that it can be applied to that region.
coordinated by XBRL International, a not-for-
different languages.
profit consortium of approximately 550
Although XBRL’s most recognised and companies, organisations and government
common function is financial reporting, agencies around the world, including the
XBRL tags can be created and adapted to IFRS Foundation.
virtually all reporting needs and to support
all standard tasks involving both financial
and non-financial business data.
XBRL was originally developed by a Certified Public
Accountant to improve the exchange, publication
and analysis of business information
Illustration: XBRL jurisdictions around the world (source: XBRL International)
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 11
12. The future of IFRSs and XBRL
Adoption of IFRSs around the world is In order to support a growing number of Yet despite a steadily rising number of users
growing. Since the formation of the IASB stakeholders and convergence of financial and stakeholders, and despite the success of
and IFRS Foundation in 2001, almost 120 reporting standards, new IFRSs and numerous individual initiatives and The IFRS Taxonomy
countries have required or permitted the improvements are being published. XBRL is projects, on a global scale XBRL remains in and all related
use of IFRSs. All remaining major also evolving with new, robust specifications the early adoption phase. The benefits of
economies have established time lines to being developed by international working XBRL adoption and implementation are
materials are freely
converge with, or adopt IFRSs in the near groups, and software solutions being being realised, but gradually. available from the
future, and few are doing so without also developed to harness these new
Consequently, while XBRL is in the early IFRS website at http://
considering XBRL and the IFRS Taxonomy. functionalities and to ease implementation.
phases of adoption, now is an opportune www.ifrs.org/XBRL
XBRL adoption is also growing of its own Combined with the lack of an alternative time to learn about XBRL and to prepare an
accord, with new jurisdictions and projects standard that is able to offer the same implementation plan.
emerging across the world. capabilities and benefits, XBRL is ideally
placed to become the de facto standard for
business reporting.
12 | Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy
13. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What is XBRL? What is the IFRS Taxonomy?
XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is a digital ‘language’ that was The IFRS Taxonomy is the XBRL representation of IFRSs issued by the IASB. The IFRS Taxonomy
developed specifically to communicate information between businesses and other users of contains tags for all IFRS disclosures.
financial information. In XBRL, mark-up tags are used to make business information computer-
readable and consumable. Why did the IFRS Foundation develop a taxonomy for IFRSs?
The IFRS Taxonomy was developed to address the demand for an electronic standard to
Does using XBRL change the information that is reported? transmit IFRS financial information.
No. XBRL provides a common, electronic format for business reporting. It does not change
what is reported. It only changes how it is reported. What is the relationship between IFRSs and XBRL?
The goal of the IFRS Foundation is to provide the world’s integrating capital markets with a
Does XBRL change financial reporting standards? common language for financial reporting. XBRL was developed to provide a common format
No. Financial reporting standards can be 'translated' into XBRL but their meaning and for business and financial reporting. Both IFRSs and XBRL are intended to standardise financial
disclosures remain unchanged. reporting, in order to promote transparency and to improve the quality and comparability of
business information.
Is XBRL restricted to financial reporting?
No. Although XBRL’s most recognised and common function is financial reporting, XBRL tags
can be created and adapted to virtually all business reporting needs. Useful links
IFRS Foundation: www.ifrs.org/xbrl XBRL International: www.xbrl.org
What is a taxonomy?
A taxonomy is a computer-readable 'dictionary' that defines and organises XBRL tags to give the
tags order and meaning.
Snapshot: IFRS® Taxonomy | 13
16. IFRS Foundation
30 Cannon Street | London EC4M 6XH | United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7246 6410 | Fax: +44 (0)20 7246 6411
Email: info@ifrs.org | Web: www.ifrs.org/xbrl
For further information about the IFRS XBRL initiative, please contact the IFRS
Foundation XBRL Team on telephone: +44 (0)20 7246 6410 or email: xbrl@ifrs.org
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