Proposed guidance from AICPA on evaluating XBRL information

  • XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) (mid blue) Image

06 Jun 2011

The XBRL Assurance Task Force of the AICPA Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC) has issued an exposure draft titled Proposed Principles and Criteria for XBRL-Formatted Information.

The exposure draft includes a set of principles and criteria for preparers, reviewers, and practitioners to use in evaluating information formatted in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

The exposure draft outlines the following four principles for use in evaluating the quality of XBRL-formatted information, designed to be applied in accordance with the requirements of the entity's reporting environment:

  • Completeness – All required, and only permitted, information is formatted at the required levels
  • Mapping – The elements selected are consistent with the meaning of the associated concepts in the source information
  • Accuracy – The amounts, dates, other attributes (for example, monetary units), and relationships (order and calculations) in the instance document and related files are consistent with the source information
  • Structure – XBRL files are structured in accordance with the requirements of the entity's reporting environment.

Comments on the exposure draft are requested by 15 July 2011. Click for Press release (link to AICPA website).

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