XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and Related Taxonomies

Effective dates:

A) Cana­dian se­cu­ri­ties laws do not re­quire com­pa­nies to pre­pare fi­nan­cial state­ments us­ing XBRL, but they may do so vol­un­tar­ily.

B)The SEC requires  Foreign Private Issuers, including MJDS filers, that prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS to begin filing their financial statements in XBRL format starting with their first annual report on Form 20-F or Form 40-F for the fiscal period ending on or after December 15, 2017

C) The Eu­ro­pean Com­mis­sion requires all listed com­pa­nies across the Eu­ro­pean Union to sub­mit their an­nual fi­nan­cial state­ments dig­i­tally as In­line XBRL doc­u­ments from Jan­u­ary 1, 2020 on­wards.

Overview

Digital financial reporting allows investors and other users of financial reports to efficiently search, extract and compare companies’ accounting and sustainability-related financial disclosures.

A digital financial report is a financial report in a computer-readable, structured data format (such as XBRL).

XBRL (eX­ten­si­ble Business Reporting Language) is an XML-based computer software language that is developed specifically for the automation of business information requirements, such as the preparation, sharing and analysis of financial reports, statements, and audit schedules. XBRL labels companies' financial and other data with codes from standard lists (tax­onomies) so that investors and analysts can more easily locate and analyze desired in­for­ma­tion. XBRL makes the analysis and exchange of corporate financial in­for­ma­tion easier and more reliable by allowing data to be extracted and processed au­to­mat­i­cally by XBRL-aware ap­pli­ca­tions. XBRL is in­de­pen­dent of any hardware platform, software operating system, pro­gram­ming language or accounting standard.

XBRL is a roy­alty-free, open spec­i­fi­ca­tion for software being developed by a non-profit con­sor­tium con­sist­ing of leading companies, as­so­ci­a­tions, and gov­ern­ment agencies around the world.

The SEC has approved the IFRS taxonomy so that SEC registrants that prepare their financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards can submit them to the SEC using XBRL.

The Eu­ro­pean Com­mis­sion has pub­lished a reg­u­la­tion re­quir­ing all listed com­pa­nies across the Eu­ro­pean Union to sub­mit their an­nual fi­nan­cial state­ments dig­i­tally as In­line XBRL doc­u­ments from Jan­u­ary 1, 2020 on­wards. The new Eu­ro­pean Sin­gle Elec­tronic For­mat (ESEF) aims at im­prov­ing ac­ces­si­bil­ity and at mak­ing the in­for­ma­tion much more user-friendly. The move will also fa­cil­i­tate the avail­abil­ity of key fi­nan­cial in­for­ma­tion in all EU of­fi­cial lan­guages. In sup­port of these new rules, the Eu­ro­pean Se­cu­ri­ties and Mar­kets Au­thor­ity (ESMA) has pre­pared an ESEF Re­port­ing Man­ual and ESEF tax­on­omy files to help com­pa­nies in their prepa­ra­tion.

By comparison, Canadian securities laws do not require companies to prepare financial statements using XBRL, but they may do so voluntarily. Only a very small proportion of Canadian companies have adopted this practice to date. The XBRL Filing section of the CSA website provides information about this voluntary XBRL program.

SEC Portal for XBRL Data Reporting Standards

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has established a portal for information about XBRL—part of the family of interactive data reporting standards required by the SEC. It provides links from the SEC website to sources of information about XBRL technology, as well as creating and submitting XBRL-tagged interactive data files in compliance with the Commission’s rules.

IFRS Taxonomies

The IASC Foun­da­tion has developed the XBRL taxonomy for IFRSs annually updated to reflect new or amended IFRS standards.

Access the IFRS taxonomies:

U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy

The FASB is responsible for the maintenance of the U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy applicable to public issuers registered with the SEC that prepare their financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Access the US GAAP taxonomies:

Recent developments

Date

Development

Comments

February 3, 2005

In 2005, the SEC established a voluntary XBRL filing program for corporate financial statements. 

In 2007, the voluntary program was expanded to permit mutual funds to submit their risk/return summary information as XBRL exhibits.

January 30, 2009

In 2009, the SEC adopted rules for public companies and foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP), and foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

 

June 28, 2018

In 2018, the SEC adopted rules requiring operating company financial information and mutual fund risk/return summary information to be submitted in the Inline XBRL format, a specification of XBRL that is both human-readable and machine-readable, on a phased-in basis.

In 2019, the SEC required the cover pages of certain operating company filings to be tagged in Inline XBRL. In 2020, the SEC adopted rules that added Inline XBRL requirements (with varying compliance periods) for certain disclosures submitted by registered variable annuity and life insurance separate accounts, registered closed-end funds, and business development companies.

May 2019

ESEF becomes European law

On May 29, 2019, the European Commission has published a regulation requiring all listed companies across the European Union to submit their annual financial statements digitally as Inline XBRL documents from January 1, 2020 onwards.

The new European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) aims at improving accessibility and at making the information much more user-friendly. The move will also facilitate the availability of key financial information in all EU official languages. In support of these new rules, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has prepared an ESEF Reporting Manual and ESEF taxonomy files to help companies in their preparation. The new provisions will be updated on a yearly basis to reflect possible updates to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) taxonomy, which aims to improve communication between preparers and users of financial statements.

April 2024

Publication of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy by the ISSB

On April 30, 2024, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy (ISSB Taxonomy). The Taxonomy reflects IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures and their accompanying guidance.

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.