Abstract
After a brief overview of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), this short chapter offers some considerations about its potential contribution to non-financial disclosure (NFD) and integrated reporting (IR), with particular reference to its Inline XBRL (iXBRL) specification. We believe that this electronic language can favor the preparation of reports and, importantly, their use, especially in terms of usability, processability, and comparability. Finally, we offer a few notes on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) mandate; thanks to the adoption of this format, and also considering the possible evolution of the European Union legislation, we believe it is likely that the marking up of NFD and IR at the European level will take place in XBRL according to iXBRL specification.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
All the XBRL/iXBRL specifications mentioned in this chapter are available on the website of XBRL International (https://specifications.xbrl.org, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 2.
For more details about the worldwide spread of XBRL, please refer to the XBRL International’s website (https://www.xbrl.org/the-standard/why/xbrl-project-directory, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 3.
According to Appendix D of the Inline XBRL Specification 1.0, its initial draft dates back to 29 November 2007, while it was released on 20 April 2010.
- 4.
With reference to the worldwide spread of iXBRL, please see the XBRL International’s website (https://www.xbrl.org/the-standard/what/ixbrl, accessed 13 May 2021).
- 5.
For more details about the iXBRL adoption for HMRC and Companies House filing, please refer to the XBRL guide for business (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/xbrl-guide-for-uk-businesses/xbrl-guide-for-uk-businesses, accessed 13 May 2021).
- 6.
On the iXBRL mandate by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), please see the SEC’s website (https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/osd-inline-xbrl.html, accessed 15 March 2021). For an analysis of the advantages of iXBRL over XBRL regarding the SEC filing, please refer to Basoglu and White (2015).
- 7.
There are still few studies on the potential contribution of XBRL to the NFD and IR: let us mention Mora Gonzálbez and Mora Rodríguez (2012), Seele (2016), Flores Muñoz et al. (2018) and La Torre et al. (2018). For a list of the (still) few initiatives on reporting of nonfinancial information using a digital format, please see Question 2.3—in particular, Table 10—in Appendix 4.6 of the final report entitled “Proposals for a relevant and dynamic EU sustainability reporting standard-setting” dated February 2021. This report, by the European Lab Project Task Force on preparatory work for the elaboration of possible EU non-financial reporting standards (PTF-NFRS), is available on the website of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) (https://www.efrag.org/Lab2, accessed 15 March 2021). Note that XBRL is the only digital format mentioned in Table 10; for more on this topic see also paras. 113 and 114 of Appendix 4.6.
- 8.
Even the best taxonomy may not be able to offer all the necessary concepts to mark up the data contained in the specific report, thus making it necessary to extend the taxonomy—normally allowed even in case of mandatory taxonomies—with ad hoc concepts defined by the individual preparer. This solution makes it possible, on the one hand, to correctly code the report into XBRL, but, on the other, it creates difficulties in terms of its comparability.
- 9.
According to the World Wide Web Consortium, “XHTML is a variant of HTML that uses the syntax of XML” (https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/htmlcss, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 10.
The text of the Commission Delegate Regulation (EU) 2019/815 in this paragraph is taken from its consolidated version—with no legal effect—updated on 1 January 2021 available on the EUR-Lex’s website (http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2019/815/2021-01-01, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 11.
More information about the Member States’ optional postponement of one year of ESEF is available on the European Commission’s website (https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/201211-esef-postponement_en, accessed 13 May 2021).
- 12.
On this topic, please see the conclusion section of this chapter and the documents referenced in notes 17 and 18.
- 13.
The SASB recently made the SASB XBRL taxonomy available for comment, please see its website for further details (https://www.sasb.org/blog/taxonomy-available-for-public-comment, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 14.
We refer to the possible creation of the ISSB by the IFRS Foundation, as proposed in its Exposure Draft ED/20215 of April 2021; this is available on the IFRS Foundation’s website (https://www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/project/sustainability-reporting/ed-2021-5-proposed-constitution-amendments-to-accommodate-sustainability-board.pdf, accessed 9 May 2021).
- 15.
In the direction of the advocated cooperation, we point out the Statement of Intent to Work Together Toward Comprehensive Corporate Reporting of September 2020 shared by the CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), IIRC, and SASB; the paper is available via https://impactmanagementproject.com/structured-network/statement-of-intent-to-work-together-towards-comprehensive-corporate-reporting, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 16.
For example, consider the recent update of the Unit Type Registry; for further information, please refer to the XBRL International’s website (https://www.xbrl.org/news/new-unit-definitions-published-to-enable-sustainability-reporting, accessed 15 March 2021).
- 17.
See the communication “Sustainable finance package” published on 21 April 2021; this is available on the European Commission’s website (https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/210421-sustainable-finance-communication_en, accessed 9 May 2021).
- 18.
In fact, ESEF is mentioned in note 15, referred to in para. 2 of the “Explanatory Memorandum” of the proposal of the European Commission for a “Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)”; this is available on the EUR-Lex’s website (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0189, accessed 13 May 2021).
References
Basoglu, K. A., & White, C. E. (2015). Inline XBRL versus XBRL for SEC reporting. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 12(1), 189–199. https://doi.org/10.2308/jeta-51254
Flores Muñoz, F., Valentinetti, D., Mora Rodríguez, M., & Mena Nieto, Á. (2018). The role of XBRL on EMAS reporting: An analysis of organisational values compatibility. Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, 65(4), 497–514. https://doi.org/10.2478/saeb-2018-0025
Kernan, K. (2019). The story of our new language: Personalities, cultures, and politics combine to create a common, global language for business. AICPA.
La Torre, M., Valentinetti, D., Dumay, J., & Rea, M. A. (2018). Improving corporate disclosure through XBRL: An evidence-based taxonomy structure for integrated reporting. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 19(2), 338–366. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-03-2016-0030
Mora Gonzálbez, J., & Mora Rodríguez, M. (2012). XBRL and integrated reporting: The Spanish accounting association taxonomy approach. The International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, 12, 59–91. https://doi.org/10.4192/1577-8517-v12_3
Seele, P. (2016). Digitally unified reporting: How XBRL-based real-time transparency helps in combining integrated sustainability reporting and performance control. Journal of Cleaner Production, 136(A), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.102
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fradeani, A. (2022). The Potential Contribution of XBRL. In: Cinquini, L., De Luca, F. (eds) Non-financial Disclosure and Integrated Reporting. SIDREA Series in Accounting and Business Administration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90355-8_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90355-8_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-90354-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-90355-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)