XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a language for electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionising business reporting around the world. It offers major benefits to all those who have to create, transmit, use or analyse such information. XBRL has been developed by XBRL International, a not-for-profit consortium of over 600 companies and agencies which is promoting its worldwide use.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the standards setting body has developed taxonomy for Commercial and Industrial companies as per the provisions of Revised Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956. It has been developed as per the IFRS architecture 2011.
XBRL India is developing taxonomies for specific industries in consultation with the respective regulators viz. Insurance, Power and NBFCs.
XBRL Applicability -Which class of companies has to file the Financial Statements in XBRL?
Vide General Circular No: 16/2012 dated 6th July 2012, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has decided that companies falling in the following categories will have to file their Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Account under section 220 of the Companies Act, 1956 using the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) taxonomy for financial year commencing on or after 01.04.2011:-
(1) all companies listed with any Stock Exchange(s) in India and their Indian subsidiaries; or
(2) all companies having paid up capital of Rupees five crore and above; or
(3) all companies having turnover of Rupees one hundred crore and above; or
(4) all companies who were required to file their financial statements for FY 2010-11, using XBRL.
However, banking companies, Power companies, Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) and Insurance companies are exempted from XBRL filing till further order. All XBRL filing companies are allowed to file their financial statements without any additional fee/penalty upto 15th November 2012 or within 30 days of the date of their AGM, whichever is later.
Taxonomies are dictionaries used by XBRL. They define the specific tags for individual items of data (such as "net profit"). Different taxonomies will be required for different financial reporting purposes. Different XBRL jurisdictions may have their own financial reporting taxonomies to reflect their local accounting regulations. Many different organisations, including regulators, specific industries or even companies, may require taxonomies to cover their own business reporting needs.
XBRL offers major benefits at all stages of business reporting and analysis. The benefits are seen in automation, cost saving, faster, more reliable and more accurate handling of data, improved analysis and in better quality of information and decision-making. All types of organisations can use XBRL to save costs and improve efficiency in handling business and financial information. Because XBRL is extensible and flexible, it can be adapted to a wide variety of different requirements. All participants in the financial information supply chain can benefit, whether they are preparers, transmitters or users of business data.
XBRL enables producers and consumers of financial data to switch resources away from costly manual processes, typically involving time-consuming comparison, assembly and re-entry of data. They are able to concentrate effort on analysis, aided by software which can validate and manipulate XBRL information.
Data Collection and Reporting
By using XBRL, companies and other producers of financial data and business reports can automate the processes of data collection. For example, data from different company divisions with different accounting systems can be assembled quickly, cheaply and efficiently if the sources of information have been upgraded to using XBRL. Once data is gathered in XBRL, different types of reports using varying subsets of the data can be produced with minimum effort. A company finance division, for example, could quickly and reliably generate internal management reports, financial statements for publication, tax and other regulatory filings, as well as credit reports for lenders. Not only can data handling be automated, removing time-consuming, error-prone processes, but the data can be checked by software for accuracy.
Data Consumption and Analysis
Users of data which is received electronically in XBRL can automate its handling, cutting out time-consuming and costly collation and re-entry of information. Software can also immediately validate the data, highlighting errors and gaps which can immediately be addressed. It can also help in analysing, selecting, and processing the data for re-use. Human effort can switch to higher, more value-added aspects of analysis, review, reporting and decision-making. In this way, investment analysts can save effort, greatly simplify the selection and comparison of data, and deepen their company analysis. Lenders can save costs and speed up their dealings with borrowers. Regulators and government departments can assemble, validate and review data much more efficiently and usefully than they have hitherto been able to do.
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