AbstractThis paper explains what XBRL is and its applications in the business world. The concepts of XBRL will be discussed, as well as its similarities to XML and the standards usefulness to the business community. The structure of the language will be briefly introduced so the reader has a greater understanding as to how the language is formatted, and basic elements will be defined. After reading the paper, the reader should be able to look at an XBRL Instance Document and identify data, elements and attributes and should be able to understand how it is formatted with regards to XML. As the business landscape evolves, XBRL is being constantly updated to meet the demands of the business world, so this paper will endeavor to explain the long-term direction in which XBRL is headed, and what developments to the standard are already underway. To illustrate its importance in the business world, an account of the regulatory agencies and companies that use XBRL here in the US and internationally will be provided. Finally, the report will explain a few XBRL related products that have come out in the past twelve months. The findings will then be summarized.

eXtensible Business Reporting Language As regulatory standards and business practices across the world converge and become more standardized, it should come as no surprise that the format of business documents should as well. Though this business document would not be constricted to one form, be it written or otherwise. Nor would it be required to be presented in one language or one currency. Not even the medium for creating the document would be constrained. The only thing that would be standardized, and the only thing that would change, would be hidden from plain sight. In fact, many individuals are not even aware of it. This standard is referred to as XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). XBRL is a markup language derived from XML that is both human and computer readable. It allows for a single standardization by allowing users and industries to create standardized taxonomies and business files which allow for a computer to process data across the world. It is extensible because XBRL can be used across multiple platforms and across the largest medium: the world wide web. It is flexible enough that it allows users to add to its taxonomies to enhance its performance in a specific field, and nimble enough that it allows for documents to be presented in all of the worlds major spoken languages. In the future, it will enhance the agility of agencies to oversee the financial institutions that dominate our markets, it will streamline business to business interactions between vendors and clients, and it will even create a simple way for individuals and businesses alike to file their tax returns. Many companies and governments have already adopted the standardization, but full implementation across the world is a goal yet to be achieved. As XBRL is being implemented by firms and governments, standards within the language are being updated to reflect our ever changing and dynamic business environment. The flexibility of XBRL is such that the very people who use the language passively would not even recognize that it is changing, which is crucial, because implementing a new technology in the business world can be disruptive; this is why XBRL will be the business reporting language of the future.XBRL: What is it?XBRL is an extensible markup language (XML) which defines a set of standards and object properties to data; it can be used across different platforms, document types and the internet. In XML languages, identifying tags, or metadata, are assigned to data to define its properties so that a computer can recognize them across different platforms. Data input by individuals is essentially the same (manual typing) regardless of platform or document type, but computers do not process different document types the same way. By encoding a document in XML or any markup language, it is both human readable and computer readable.

Basic Syntax of XBRL and XML Languages

The key components of any XML language, including XBRL are: Unicode characters, processor and application, markup and content, tags, elements, attributes and declaration statements. Every XBRL document should begin with a root element (an element that encloses all other elements), a header and footer, and a declaration statement about the document itself defining the version of XBRL used, for instance.

Following the declaration statement is markup and content. By a strictly literal definition, XBRL is simply a string of Unicode characters (numbers, letters, symbols etc. from all the worlds major spoken language families). These strings of characters are divided into markups and content. Strings that constitute markup usually begin with a symbol, or an & and a ;, respectively. All other strings are then defined as content. The exception being CDATA or character data, which is content within a markup.

An XBRL markup that begins with a is called a tag. There are three types of tags: start-tags, end-tags and empty-element tags. the words within the tags are called valuesAn XBRL element includes a start-tag and an end-tag with content in between them, or simply an empty-element tag. The content between the start and end tags may contain markups or other elements within the content, which are called child-elements. An attribute is a property of a value within a start-tag or an empty-element tag. In XBRL, an attribute can only have one value associated with it and each attribute can appear only once within an element. All of this data is analyzed by a processor which then passes structured information to an application. The processor is colloquially referred to as a parser.

The XBRL Instance Document

In XBRL there is whats called the instance. An XBRL instance document is a business report in an electronic format created according to the rules of XBRL. It contains facts that are defined by the elements in the taxonomy it refers to together with their values and an explanation of the context in which they are placed. The XBRL instance begins with a root element. The root element is akin to a class in object oriented programming or in nature, an organism since all living things are comprised in that group. Within the root element are all other elements. These elements comprise the business facts. Business facts are divided into two groups: items and tuples. Items are facts holding a single value, and tuples are facts holding multiple values.

Components XBRL Taxonomy: The Schema File and Linkbases

XBRL consists of not only an Instance file, but a Schema file and a list of linkbases. In order for a computer to understand human input, the computer must have access to values (located in the Instance file), information on what those values are and how it should treat them (located in the Schema files), and relationships between different values, which are described in linkbasesA schema stores information about taxonomy elements, essentially their attributes. It is an unstructured list of elements and references to linkbases. In XBRL, the schema contains a list of unrelated business elements. The Schema itself also begins with a root element and ends . There are many elements in a schema, and certain elements with the same name may have different meanings. For a computer to be able to differentiate between them, XBRL and other XML languages use namespaces. Namespaces look like Internet addresses, but they are not. The rationale for using namespaces is that they are unique. Using the entire address over and over again would be cumbersome, so in XBRL you can assign it a prefix.

Linkbases are components of a taxonomy that provide information about relationships between elements and link them with specified external resources. So typically, as well as defining XBRL elements, the creation of XBRL taxonomy requires labeling elements in human readable language, referencing elements to the external resources, and define the relationships between elements according to criteria. Linkbases use two XML technologies to accomplish these tasks. The first is known as XLink (XML Linking Languages) allows for the creation of hyperlinks in XML documents. The second is XPointer (XML Pointing Languages) that helps to localize specific parts of XML and XBRL documents (e.g. elements' definitions in schemas). There are several different types of linkbases that utilize different types of relationships. Linkbases provide descriptions of connections between elements by localizing them and defining the type of relationships (utilizing arcrole attribute). Each of the five linkbases - presentation, calculation, definition, reference and label - contain definitions of different types of relations.

Presentation Linkbases store information about relationships between elements to order and organize taxonomy content. This allows the elements to be arranged in a structure that is appropriate to represent the relationships in business data. The presentation linkbases orders elements in a hierarchical way to help users find concepts they are interested in.

Calculation Linkbases contain basic validation rules, which apply to all instance documents referring to the particular elements in taxonomy, For instance a hierarchically calculation linkbase sorts all monetary elements in this way so lower level elements (dependants variables for instance) sum up to or are subtracted from one another, so that the upper-level (independent variable) is the result of these operations.

The Definition Linkbase allows taxonomy to be defined by different kinds of relationships between elements. There are four standard types of relationships supported by the definition linkbase: general-special, essence-alias, requires-element and similar-tuples.

Financial concepts appearing on business reports more often than not stem from regulatory documents issued by respective authorities. Elements defined by this taxonomy refer to the specific terms and concepts explained in the standards. For this reason, a taxonomy is often provided with a reference linkbase that presents relationships between elements and external regulations or standards (the other solution is to enclose documentation in label linkbase). This helps instance creators and users understand the intended meaning of each element and provides support for its inclusion in the taxonomy.

XBRL aims to become a worldwide standard for electronic business reporting. This requires taxonomies to present business data in many different languages. Therefore it is important to be able to create an element that is assigned with labels for different languages. There may also be different labels for different purposes. All labels are stored and linked to the elements in a label linkbase.

Developments in the XBRL Standard

The XBRL Standard consists of Community issues and governs the standards for XBRL. The standards for XBRL are continually evolving and any new developments need to be kept up with in order to compile information accurately. The following will briefly review the most recent and exciting updates..According to XBRL.org (eXtensive Business Reporting Language, 2013), on January 25, 2012 a new edition of the Dimensions 1.0 Specification was issued. This new edition supersedes older editions and the update is an extension linked to XBRL 2.1 Specification. Dimensionals 1.0 supplemental XBRL specification that enables you to apply dimensional concepts to XBRL documents. The update enables XBRL taxonomy authors to limit information for one time users to use in the segment and scenario elements located in the context element of the instance documents. This edition update is extremely conforming and creates convenience since any data that complies with this specification, also complies with XBRL 2.1 and can be processed without error. To alleviate any stress for the compiler, this update is still processed even if the processor is unaware of the edition update. A new edition of the XBRL 2.1 Specification was issued on February 20, 2013. The 2013 edition contains corrections from the previous edition and incorporates the HTML version.On November 18th, 2013 three separate developmental updates were issued: Units Registry, Variables 1.0, and Inline XBRL 1.1. The structure of Units Registry was issued, which is an online catalogue of units that are known for having extensive utility. It embodies facts and figures about the units use and influence on instance documents. The registry also serves as the framework of XBRL International Units Registry. Second released was the Variables 1.0 specification which is an extension to the XBRL Specification released back in 2009. It contains error changes made to the original recommendation and provides syntax for processors that pull data from instance documents. The grammatical modifications and updates made in this edit serve to be helpful since the purpose of XBRL is to provide a language that is understood universally. Lastly, the most recent update is Inline XBRL Version 1.1, whose predecessor was released back in April of 2010. The development contains a three new features: the addition of an extended mechanism, ie:continuation, for splitting text content within a document, the addition of nesting of ie:nonFraction and ie:fraction elements and, addition of support for fact-explanatory Fact links, by replacing the existing mechanism for structuring footnotes with a one based on a new element, ie:relationship (eXtensible Business Reporting Language, 2013)Developments and changes need to be continually made and monitored in the technological world that continues to grow. All updates serve to be helpful for better and easier means of reporting.

The Use of XBRL by Companies and Regulatory AgenciesXBRL provides companies a way to save costs and to become more efficient. It is a system that can be used when handling business and financial information by almost all members of a company, including users, transmitters, and preparers (XBRL International). Basically, the data becomes interactive; software is able to process the data to translate it into information for detailed analysis (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010). Companies and agencies all over the world have begun adopt the use of XBRL as a way to access information quicker and easier, making their companies more competitive overall. Most notably, perhaps, is the adoption and integration of XBRL by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). By 2003 under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, securities holdings and transactions must be reported in an XBRL format (Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010). By 2009, operating companies, mutual funds, and credit rating agencies are also required to use XBRL tagging. By 2011, the SEC will have required all public companies to use XBRL (Romney, 2012). The Commission is continually looking for new ways to further integrate interactive data into its system. As of 2006, a long list of companies has already agreed to use interactive data to when providing their financial statements, including 3M Company, PepsiCo Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Ford Motor Company (US Securities Exchange Commission, 2006).The use of XBRL is not limited to the United States. Agencies in countries as far reaching as the UK, Spain, Belgium, China, Japan and even Australia have begun to incorporate interactive data into their disclosure systems (US Securities Exchange Commission, 2010). In the United Kingdom, HM Revenue and Customs now accepts tax filings in XBRL format. The Securities Commission in Spain has been requiring the use of XBRL since 2005 for financial statements. In China, two of their stock exchanges (Shanghai and Shenzhen) have XBRL taxonomies for several companies and mutual funds. The Bank of Japan requires that financial services companies use XBRL to report financial statements. Finally, even in Australia interactive data is being used to expedite the reporting process for companies reporting to multiple government agencies. (US Securities Exchange Commission, 2010).XBRL has proven to be effective and efficient in companies and agencies all over the world. This means dramatically reducing costs by automating routine tasks, providing much faster responses, and allowing for more time in analysis rather than simple data translation (XBRL International). XBRL will only continue to grow in years to come.XBRL New Products As we have been mentioning, XBRL is a new technology that is constantly becoming more popular, thus information and communication technology companies are rapidly developing new XBRL software and finding innovative ways to efficiently implement XBRL into the financial reporting system. Some of the most popular software include: the Interstage XWand: Complete XBRL Software Offering, Corefiling XBRL Reporting Software, XBRL solutions from Oracle, and Hitachis Xinba XBRL reader and analyzer.Corefilling XBRLs programs support filers, exchangers or information, regulators, and the financial market in a variety of tasks related to XBRL. Because the SECs EDGAR filing program is well developed, the SEC filing systems are targeted to validate and review. There are three systems used by Corefiling; Truenorth, Magnify, and XBRL consistency Suite. Truenorth is an XBRL validator that enforces specifications and taxonomy constraints on XBRL documents. Magnify is an XBRL desktop review tool and the XBRL consistency Suite comprises a body of rules developed to meet assurance requirements for EDGAR filings. They run within Magnify, to provide a single assurance workflow.A second XBRL software is from Oracle called Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management and it is described as a straightforward approach to regulatory reporting. Some of the key features of this software include: regulatory publishing in XBRL, ixbrl, PDF, SEC EDGAR HTML and other formats, Microsoft Office based approach, Rollover report management, XBRL tag override capabilities, and Centralized XBRL metadata storage and direct mapping to Oracle Hyperion data sources, amongst other advantages. Fujitsu claims they developed a more complete software than the ones mentioned above and it is called the Interstage Xwand. This is a complete XBRL software that was developed and created by Fujitsu. This specific software is so popular due to the fact that it is useful for all stages of XBRL implementations. For example, the software can be used by Independent Software Vendors (ISV) by enhancing their offering and expanding their business. It can also be useful for preparers of financial statements, external and internal auditors, analysis and inventors, and regulators. Another example of the software capabilities is when it is used by investors and analysts. Tools such as the Instant Creator tool runs custom made reports extracted from XBRL information and the formula editor which edits and tests formulas for verification are some of the additional resources FUJITSU's software includes. According to Fujitsu, this powerful Software Development Kit (SDK) make the creation, validation, and analysis of XBRL dramatically more efficient and cost-effective.Lastly, one final type of software is Hitachis Xinba XBRL Reader and Analyzer. The Journal of Accountancy published an article that explained the difference from this software and others available in the market. This software works as Microsoft excel add-ins by simply adding a menu to the Excel Ribbon that lets accountants create exactly the analysis spreadsheet needed and offers options to opening XBRL documents, creating them, and analyzing them. This software distinguishes itself from others by allowing users to customize excel spreadsheets while still maintaining a live connection to the XBRL data. Once Xinba has extracted XBRL data to a spreadsheet, the full power of Excel can be leveraged for analysis (JOA.COM) and these completed worksheets can be stored as a template for other uses. Because accountants are working on familiar environment, Excel, the only limits are the imagination of the user. XBRL has the potential to transform financial data, and now that potential has started to become a reality due to the newest software applications which is why it is crucial for accountants and financial reporters to learn and understand XBRL.

Works CitedeXtensible Business Reporting Language (2013). Specification - Recommendation. Retrieved from: http://xbrl.org/SpecRecommendations Romney, M. (2012). Accounting information systems. (12th ed., p. Ch. 16). Prentice Hall. US Securities Exchange Commision. (2010, March 15). What is interactive data and who's using it?. Retrieved from http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/xbrl/what-is-idata.shtml US Securities Exchange Commision. (2006, July 13). More companies join sec's program to use interactive data for financial statements. Retrieved from XBRL International. (n.d.). Xbrl and business. Retrieved from http://www.xbrl.org/xbrl-and-business XBRL International. (n.d.). Regulators and government. Retrieved from http://www.xbrl.org/regulators-and-government