XBRL US, a non-profit advancing open standards for XML business reporting in the U.S., today annouced the launch of their XBRL Consistency Suite, a set of online XBRL tools developed by XBRL US Labs to help public companies identify inconsistencies in their XBRL documents. The tool runs thousands of checks against an instance document and produces a report showing inconsistencies related to the use of the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy so that companies can make corrections before their final SEC submission. The checks will be updated each quarter and are designed to help companies create more consistent, high quality XBRL data. The tool also includes access to a database of XBRL documents that are updated regularly throughout the day and let companies identify concepts used and extensions created for all XBRL submissions, for their industry and individual peers. Dues-paying membershave automatically have access to the XBRL documents database right now – access it through the members-only section of www.xbrl.us.
XBRL Consistency Suite will be sold direct to public company preparers but can also be integrated into third party XBRL software and services. The XBRL Consistency Suite costs $4,000 per CIK. Consistency Checks can be integrated with third party software and services and XBRL US Labs is working with leading XBRL providers to integrate XBRL Consistency Checks into their products. The first of these third party tools is now available for an additional $1,000, and it includes SEC and XBRL validation software with the Consistency Checks in a single tool to maximize ease of use. There is special pricing available for XBRL US members.
In the over 1,400 XBRL financial statements that have been submitted to date, thousands of errors have been identified, including incorrect use of signs, missing XBRL-tagged elements, and tags that should not have been reported, among others.
The XBRL Consistency Suite (http://csuite.xbrl.us) performs over 6,000 tests against a company's XBRL document and produces a report that shows taxonomy-specific errors that have been made. Companies, or their service providers, should run the tool on their XBRL-formatted financials before they submit them to regulators and investors as a final step in the XBRL creation process. It also includes access to a database of XBRL documents submitted to the SEC, updated regularly.
Subscribers can perform basic analytics on the database to see what concepts are being used by their peers and what extensions are being created by searching on the full set of filings, or searching by industry or company. Pre-created extensions reflect new accounting standards and industry changes. XBRL Consistency Suite was developed by XBRL US Labs, the research and development arm of XBRL US.
"Creating XBRL-formatted financial statements requires a good understanding of how the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy is structured. Consistency Checks lets us test our assumptions and make corrections to errors that can be easily avoided, before we submit the XBRL document to the SEC," said Matt Birney, Manager, IFRS Policy and Implementation, United Technologies Corporation, "And the company analytics give us real insights into industry best practices about how our peers tag their financials."
"Public companies have a lot of decisions to make when using the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy," said Campbell Pryde, Chief Standards Officer, XBRL US, "They should not be penalized for mistakes that can be easily corrected. The XBRL Consistency Suite gives companies the tools they need to correct inaccuracies. Our goal is to help companies and industries establish a common core set of best practices so that investors and regulators get the information they need."
For more information, download a white paper at http://xbrl.us/research/documents/AvoidingErrorsWhitePaper.pdf outlining the kinds of common errors that have been identified, visit our web page at http://xbrl.us/csuite and view a demonstration of the XBRL Consistency Suite, http://xbrl.us/media/csuitedemoshort.wmv
XBRL US also conducts in-person training and online webinars geared to help companies increase the efficiencies in XBRL preparation and submission, including detailed footnote tagging. To learn more, visit http://xbrl.us/webinars for webinars and http://xbrl.us/training for training sessions.
About XBRL US
XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting standards in the United States and is a jurisdiction of XBRL International. It represents the business information supply chain, including accounting firms, software companies, financial databases, printers and government agencies. Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by US public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through the collaboration of the business reporting supply chain. XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP and mutual fund reporting under contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission. XBRL US Labs, the research and development arm of XBRL US, leverages the XBRL US platform, methodologies and people to address the quality of taxonomies and the harmonization of XBRL with other XML standards with the goal of enabling faster XBRL adoption.
Links: www.xbrl.us
