Basic Overview of XBRL
“… in this networked world, there is a need for greater flow of knowledge across boundaries.
…. knowledge needs structure - without structure you cannot retrieve it efficiently and you cannot personalize
…the internet has facilitated access to information, but complicated the task of identifying relevant knowledge
1. XBRL Overview Presented by: Liv A. Watson – Vice President of XBRL Strategies XBRL International Nordic Country Representative EDGAR Online, USA (Nasdaq: EDGR) Stockholm, Sweden March 19, 2004
3. Find the best solution to connect the nine points together with no more than four straight lines without lifting your writing instrument.
4. What assumptions are you making? Henry Dudeney was born 144 years ago – 10th April 1857
5. If you do not assume that you cannot extend your lines beyond the imaginary square formed by the box the puzzle becomes easier to solve .
6. “ Everything “that can be invented “has been invented.” Charles H. Duell Commissioner of U.S. Office of Patents, urging President William McKinley to abolish his office, 1899
7. Don’t assume that the lines must pass through the center of the dots.
15. “… in this networked world, there is a need for greater flow of knowledge across boundaries. … . knowledge needs structure - without structure you cannot retrieve it efficiently and you cannot personalize … the internet has facilitated access to information, but complicated the task of identifying relevant knowledge” The Information Overload Challenge… Source: Quotes from TFPL Taxonomies for Business conference, London 23 October 2000
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18. Evolution to XBRL FTP, E-Mail, Gopher Web Pages Web Services TCP/IP HTML XML – 1996 XBRL - 1998 Connectivity Presentation Automation Browse the Web Program the Web Text Files Innovation Technology
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20. XBRL Impact “ … If Europe moves quickly to take up these standards, it could give them an attractive lead in the race to accessible and comparative key data that would stimulate investor interest. It would undoubtedly spawn a plethora of research tools that would be useful to both private and professional investors.” Source - Investors Chronicle, August 9, 2000
21. XBRL Usage & Adoption XBRL Tools & Technology The XBRL Standard Specification & Taxonomies The Puzzle to XBRL Standards
22. Eric Cohen’s Dream “ pieces of business information can be entered anywhere in a supply chain, flow into a company's general ledger, then be reported out in any form needed by the company or its trading Partners” The Founding Father of XBRL /GL
25. XBRL Tool for Excel & Word 2003 "Through Internet delivery, XBRL will also provide analysts and investors with extensible financial data to make informed decisions about the company. We see XBRL as not only the future standard for publishing, delivery and use of financial information over the Web, but also as a logical business choice . “ - John Connors, Chief Financial Officer, Microsoft
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28. Metcalfe’s Rule and XBRL Adoption Technology changes less in the short term than we believe; but the long-term impact is far greater than we realize. Applying Metcalfe’s Rule of Technology Changes To XBRL 2001 2007+ 2003 2005 Actual Rate of Adoption Perceived Rate of Adoption
30. Liv A. Watson EDGAR Online Inc – Vice President of XBRL Strategies XBRL International Nordic Country Representative E-mail: [email_address] Phone: + 1 (203) 852-5703 Web: www.edgar-online.com www.xbrl.se
Editor's Notes
Today thousands of companies release financial results to regulatory agencies. The results are presented in unstructured formats which makes it difficult for the end user to understand or utilize the information provided without a high level of expertise and effort. XBRL takes the concept of “the democratization of financial and business reporting data” to the next level. Investors in publicly traded companies need better information on those companies and more of it. That point is driven home forcefully by recent financial scandals. And it's not only the investors who suffer -- without the fuller, freer flow of information, the companies themselves cannot maximize their ability to raise capital and the economy overall suffers if capital allocations are based on partial or erroneous data. Information providers have embraced the Internet to provide a myriad of interactive media types to information consumers, but providing interactive online data has been challenging, with static reports, HTML tables, PDFs and spreadsheets substituting for the powerful, self personalized online experiences people expect in the Internet era. Transition: This session will feature impacts of XBRL on the financial information industry.
Note see next couple of slides, which are hidden to get history of the problem. The point that this makes is: Accounting is accounting and the systems that we carry have been doing that for around twenty years, we want To take accounting to the next level and “think outside the box – using the systems to be proactive an help to Manage business better – The CEO wants timely information that he/she can use (reports, digital dashboard, OLAP) Modified from puzzles appearing in: Pumping Ions , Tom Wujec, Doubleday and Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1988, Page 117 The Art of Creative Thinking , Gerard I. Nierberg, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1982, Page 72 Creative Thinking in the Decision and Management Sciences , James R. Evans, Southwestern, Cincinnati, 1991, Page 49
With a swipe of the hand on June 26, 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a pack of chewing gum became the first retail product sold using a scanner and the Universal Product Code Symbol. The result of decades of work, investment, and unprecedented cooperation in the grocery industry, the U.P.C. Symbol today is generating $17 Billion through the grocery channel alone in annual savings for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. 2 Today, celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the U.P.C. Symbol as we have known it may be closer to its end than its beginning. With its planned phase out by 2005, 3 there is even greater reason to remember what was accomplished and to study the lessons that this historic event, the adoption of the U.P.C. Symbol, can teach.
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) originally developed Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to interconnect various defense department computer networks. The Internet, an international Wide Area Network, uses TCP/IP to connect government and educational institutions across the world. TCP/IP is also in widespread use on commercial and private networks. Tim Berners-Lee and CERN in Geneva implements a hypertext system to provide efficient information access to the members of the international high-energy physics community. HTML is the lingua franca for publishing hypertext on the World Wide Web. It is a non-proprietary format based upon SGML, and can be created and processed by a wide range of tools, from simple plain text editors - you type it in from scratch- to sophisticated WYSIWYG authoring tools. HTML uses tags such as <h1> and </h1> to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links etc. HTML is an evolving language. It doesn't stay the same for long before a revised set of standards and specifications are brought in to allow easier creation of prettier and more efficient sites. Let's start at the beginning... In November 1996 the initial XML draft was presented at the SGML 96 Conference in Boston. Then in March 97, the 1st XML Conference was held in San Diego, by the Graphic Communications Association. In April 97, we then got the initial XML Linking Working Draft. In July it got revised, and then in August 97, we also got the revised XML Syntax Working Draft, plus the XML Developers Day was held in Montreal Canada on August 21st. In October the W3C came with a note on 'W3C Data Formats on XML, SGML, HTML, and RDF'. In December the XML 1.0 Proposed Recommendation arrived, and in February 1998, we now have the 2nd XML draft out XML is a markup language for documents containing structured information. Structured information contains both content (words, pictures, etc.) and some indication of what role that content plays (for example, content in a section heading has a different meaning from content in a footnote, which means something different than content in a figure caption or content in a database table, etc.). Almost all documents have some structure. A markup language is a mechanism to identify structures in a document. The XML specification defines a standard way to add markup to documents. April 1998. Charles Hoffman, a CPA with the firm Knight Vale and Gregory in Tacoma, Washington, investigates how XML could be used for electronic reporting of financial information. Charlie begins developing prototypes of financial statements and audit schedules using XML. am DiPiazza, PricewaterhouseCooper's CEO, announces, &quot;XBRL, along with a new global set of standards and guidelines for accounting, could help restore public confidence in stock markets. XBRL will …help to level the playing field for all investors and stakeholders.&quot;
XML Standards -- what efforts exist to establish a common language, vocabulary, exchange methodology, and protocol for the interaction of multiple business parties? XML Tools and Technology -- what technologies exist to realize these standards or provide alternate methods for realizing the value of XML? XML Usage and Adoption -- what is the current state of the XML market and what are the driving trends in its usage and adoption?
Previous SURVEY FINDS TWO-THIRDS OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE VENDORS HAVE RELEASED OR ARE IN PROCESS OF RELEASING XBRL-ENABLED PRODUCTS Released on : 5 Aug 2003 SURVEY FINDS TWO-THIRDS OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE VENDORS HAVE RELEASED OR ARE IN PROCESS OF RELEASING XBRL-ENABLED PRODUCTS XBRL Seen as ‘de facto’ Technology Standard for Reporting Financial Information NEW YORK, NY, AUGUST 5, 2003 – XBRL-US today announced the results of its recent XBRL Software Vendor Survey showing that two-thirds of accounting software vendors have either already XBRL-enabled at least one of their accounting software packages or will do so by December 2004. These software vendors include Oracle, Microsoft, Hyperion, SAP, PeopleSoft, ACCPAC, JD Edwards and Cartesis. Conducted on behalf of XBRL-US by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the survey indicates that vendors believe the demand for XBRL functionality within accounting software is on the rise. “As the demand for enhanced business reporting through higher quality, more transparent and timely information increases, the need for technology that enables better reporting also increases,” said Paul Penler, Principal, Ernst & Young and chair of the XBRL-US Adoption Committee. “XBRL is the solution, and this survey indicates that many XBRL-enabled applications are available to users now and considerably more will be developed during the next 18 months. Accounting software vendors perceive an increase in the demand and are making the investment now to XBRL-enable their tools in order to meet the needs of information users.” “Our survey also indicates that accounting software vendors with software for larger companies are setting the pace in the push to XBRL-enable accounting applications,” said Louis Matherne, President of XBRL International. “What’s encouraging is we’ve already seen that about 90% of the accounting software vendors serving larger companies are XML enabled and that many are being readied for XBRL functionality. In fact, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle have already XBRL-enabled at least one product to-date.” &quot;We see XBRL as a critical tool to help companies meet the increasing demand for greater transparency and interoperability in the information they report,&quot; said Rob Zwiebach, Director of Financial Applications Development at Oracle. &quot;We have therefore built XBRL support into our financial reporting engine, enabling organizations to automatically and efficiently produce reports in XBRL format.&quot; &quot;XBRL is a critical step towards next-generation financial management. Consequently, SAP is proud to take a leadership position in adopting XBRL standards and enabling our customers to enrich financial reporting, increase stakeholder visibility, and increase business performance,&quot; said Kraig Haberer, Global Product Marketing Director, SAP. “Hyperion has been driving adoption of the XBRL standard through its participation in the XBRL consortium for more than three years and expects to be a key provider of XBRL-enabled products and solutions,” said John Kopcke, Chief Technology Officer, Hyperion Software. The survey goes on to show that accounting software vendors have initially focused development efforts on products that output/export XBRL-formatted data – XBRL import functions will come later. Fourteen of the vendors surveyed indicated that their applications will initially include an XBRL export function. This is a natural evolution of the acceptance of XBRL in the marketplace. The first step in the process is to enable software to output XBRL data, and as market demand progresses, applications that can efficiently and accurately import and consume XBRL-tagged information will be developed as organizations begin to automate many of their business reporting processes. For more information about the findings of the XBRL Software survey please go to www.xbrl.org The telephone survey of 21 leading accounting application software vendors was conducted during the second quarter of 2003. These vendors offered 59 different products. Respondents consisted primarily of product managers for ERP, general ledger and financial reporting software applications. # # # About XBRL-US XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) is a royalty-free, open specification for software that uses XML data tags to describe financial information for public and private companies and other organizations. XBRL benefits all members of the financial information supply chain by utilizing a standards-based method with which users can prepare, publish in a variety of formats, exchange and analyze financial statements and the information they contain. More than 50 of the world's leading accounting, financial, government and software organizations are involved in the adoption and use of XBRL-US. More than 200 companies and organizations are members of XBRL International. For more information on XBRL please go to the XBRL International web site, www.xbrl.org Current members of the XBRL-US include: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Bank of America; BearingPoint, Inc.; BDO Seidman; Bowne & Co., Inc.; Bryant College; CCH Tax Compliance; Covarity Inc; Creative Solutions; Crowe Chizek; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Deloitte & Touche LLP; Eagle Technology Management, Inc; EDGAR Online, Inc.; Ernst & Young LLP; FDIC; Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Inc.; General Electric Company; Grant Thornton LLP; Hitachi America, Ltd; Hyperion Solutions Corp; iLumen; Informatica Corporation; Institute of Management Accountants; J.D. Edwards & Co; KPMG LLP; Lawson Software; Mergent Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Moody’s Risk Management Services; Morgan Stanley; Nasdaq Stock Market; OneSource Information Services; Oracle Corporation; Peoplesoft; PR Newswire; Practitioners Publishing Company; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Reuters Data LLC; RIA; RR Donnelley Financial; Standard Advantage; Thomson Financial; UBMatrix; and Wachovia. Press Contact : David Colgren (646) 536-5103 (646) 536-5106
Technology has a greater impact than we expect that it will, but it takes longer for the impact to be felt.