New UK Accounts Taxonomies - Overview

Peter Calvert

XBRL UK – ICAEW Seminar – 19 May 2014

Why new taxonomies?

New accounting regulations

Improvements in the light of experience

New requirements for XBRL tagging

New ownership and organisational structure behind the taxonomies

The new taxonomies

Full IFRS for UK companies

FRS 101 (reduced disclosure framework)

FRS 102 (Financial Reporting Standard for UK and Ireland)

Application of the standards

Similarities and differences

The development project

Development team under FRC auspices– Accounting specialists – Taxonomy developer and coordinator– FRC project manager

Technical infrastructure Oversight:

– Governance Committee; Technical Task Force; Closed User Group review

Timescales: March 2013 – Sept 2014

What happens next?

Public review of the taxonomies began on 8 May and will last for two months

Ends Tuesday, 8 July 2014 Feedback via comment letter or via ‘Yeti’

What happens next?

Public review of the taxonomies began on 8 May and will last for two months

Ends Tuesday, 8 July 2014 Feedback via comment letter or via ‘Yeti’ Complete taxonomies in light of feedback Release with supporting documents by or

before September 2014 Implementation

Aims and requirements General aims:

– Accurate, clear– Cover data which is useful for analysis,

comparison and review by consumers– Easy and efficient to use– Provide unambiguous and consistent

tagged data for consumers

Completeness requirement:– Financial data– Textual information

Broadening use of XBRL

HMRC:– Tax risk analysis, policy and planning

Government departments:– Policy, statistics and other purposes

Companies House:– Public and private consumers; investors;

information companies; credit rating agencies; banks

Company financial info in digital format

Demands on taxonomies

Support more effective use of XBRL by a broader range of consumers

Support improved quality of tagging Limit and ease the burden on preparer

community Meet the needs of 2016 and beyond

Range of design and content decisions

Main taxonomy features - 1 Stability decision

– Basic ‘look and feel’ and many features unchanged

Careful focus on content and user– Clarity of presentation and organisation– Consistency of approach

Built-in guidance– Guidance tags, cross-references, supporting

information in ‘documentation’ labels Accounting references

Main taxonomy features - 2

Simplification of textual tagging Greater use of dimensions, where

appropriate Introduction of ‘typed’ dimensions:

– ‘Analysis’ items– Groupings – replacement of tuples

Covered in FRC Accounts Taxonomies Design document

Structure of the taxonomies

Same underlying accounting base: IFRS published by IASB

Broad range of taxonomy content is the same across the accounting frameworks

Common ‘Core taxonomy’

Extensions to core taxonomy to create individual taxonomies for Full IFRS, FRS 101 and FRS 102

Summary

Reasons for new taxonomies General aims List of new features Timescales Providing feedback Next presentations Questions?