On November 3rd, the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) concluded its assessment of how filers label the elements used in tagging reported items on the income statement over multiple periods. Staff noted that some filers use various labels for the same element used to tag the same reported item on the income statement from one period to the next. This even occurred when the description of the reported item did not change. More specifically, filers used one label in a certain form (such as Form 10-Q) while using a different label for the same element in a different form (such as Form 10-K). For instance, the element “Revenue from Contract with Customer, Excluding Assessed Tax” should not use the label “Operating revenue” on Form 10-Q while using the label “Total operating revenue” on Form 10-K.
Consistency concerning element labeling significantly enhances the comparability of data across reporting periods. When filers use labels other than the standard label provided in the US GAAP taxonomy, they are encouraged carefully to label the element to reduce the need for further changes in the label unless there are similar changes to the description of the reported item.
For more data quality reminders, see the Staff Observations, Guidance, and Trends webpage at sec.gov.
Source:
Changing Labels for the Same Reported Item on the Income Statement over Multiple Periods (sec.gov)
