XBRL

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) allows companies to facilitate communication of financial information through the use of a standard code throughout the globe. It can be used in by a company to:

· reduce costs
· improve analysis
· provide more reliable and accurate handling of data.

One of the important benefits of XBRL that you may be interested in is the cost savings. XBRL reduces the amount of time to input information because the information only needs to be input once. The amount of time it takes to produce something of value, for example a report, is reduced significantly by the ability to query information and convert it into various formats. Distribution costs can also be reduced because of the ability to distribute information through the Internet across divisions or regions.

Analysis can also be improved as XBRL saves on the amount of time that is used searching for information because of the use of tags therefore leaving more time for value added activities such as comparisons across companies. Without the use of XBRL there is a lot of time wasted extracting useful information.

The data extracted from companies using XBRL is more reliable because data only needs to be input once. This reduces the risk of data entry errors because there is less redundant information. The data is in a universally accepted format which allows it to be shared throughout the company and with external users of the system.

The steps for implementation of XBRL differ from one company to the next but some steps that should be taken my any company considering implementation of XBRL are:

Identify systems being used to produce business information
Identify the number of processes
Evaluate the systems impact of XBRL

To find out the specific steps that need to be followed for the company it would be useful to contact the XBRL organization for information.

Accountants can join the XBRL consortium to remain up to date on the XBRL standards

Sites referenced:
http://www.xbrl.org/frontend.aspx?clk=LK&val=20
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used
http://www.kpmg.com/xbrl/next.asp