The XBRL US Center for Data Quality has launched a public review for seven proposed validation rules. These rules are available for comment by public companies, data providers, analysts and XBRL providers for sixty days and pertain to providing validation tests for XBRL errors.
The seven proposed rules address common XBRL errors as follows:
Proposed Rule DQC_0004 (Element Values Are Equal)
This rule would validate the values reported for the Assets and the LiabilitiesAndStockholdersEquity elements to ensure that they are equal for the same context.
Proposed Rule DQC_0005 (Context Dates After Period End Date)
This rule would test whether the context dates associated with the EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding fact as well as with facts that use the SubsequentEventTypeAxis or the StatementScenarioAxis in conjunction with the ScenarioForecastMember are dates that take place after the reporting period end date. Subsequent events, forecasts, and the shares outstanding of common stock are all concepts that require values to be associated with a date after the reporting period.
Proposed Rule DQC_0006 (DEI and Block Tag Date Contexts)
This rule would test that the dates used for certain elements (such as a number of elements used for a report’s Document and Entity Information as well as for text block, table text block, and accounting policy elements) are consistent with the fiscal period focus of the report.
Proposed Rule DQC_0009 (Element A must be less than or equal to Element B)
This rule would test the values for certain elements to ensure that they are less than or equal to the value of other elements as follows:
Element A | Less Than or Equal to | Element B |
CommonStockSharesOutstanding | CommonStockSharesAuthorized AND/OR CommonStockSharesIssued |
PreferredStockSharesOutstanding | PreferredStockSharesIssued AND/OR PreferredStockSharesAuthorized |
CommonStockSharesIssued | CommonStockSharesAuthorized |
PreferredStockSharesIssued | PreferredStockSharesAuthorized |
DeferredTaxLiabilityNotRecognizedAmountOfUnrecognizedDeferredTaxLiabilityUndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries | UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries |
DefinedBenefitPlanPlansWithBenefitObligationsInExcessOfPlanAssetsAggregateBenefitObligation | DefinedBenefitPlanBenefitObligation |
DefinedBenefitPlanPensionPlansWithAccumulatedBenefitObligationsInExcessOfPlanAssetsAggregateAccumulatedBenefitObligation | DefinedBenefitPlanAccumulatedBenefitObligation |
DefinedBenefitPlanPensionPlansWithAccumulatedBenefitObligationsInExcessOfPlanAssetsAggregateFairValueOfPlanAssets | DefinedBenefitPlanFairValueOfPlanAssets |
DefinedBenefitPlanPensionPlansWithAccumulatedBenefitObligationsInExcessOfPlanAssetsAggregateProjectedBenefitObligation | DefinedBenefitPlanBenefitObligation |
DefinedBenefitPlansEstimatedFutureEmployerContributionsInCurrentFiscalYear | DefinedBenefitPlanExpectedContributionsInCurrentFiscalYear |
DefinedBenefitPlanAccumulatedBenefitObligation | DefinedBenefitPlanBenefitObligation |
Proposed Rule DQC_0015 (Negative Values)
This rule would test certain elements to determine if they have any negative values within the report. The US GAAP taxonomy is designed such that the majority of its elements have positive values. Certain elements should not have a negative value (unless they are being used in conjunction with a member element that would allow the value to be negative). This rule would that list of elements to determine whether any of those elements have a negative value. Note that this rule would not test whether such elements were used with member elements that would allow them to have negative values.
For a list of the elements that cannot have negative values and that would be tested by this rule, see the DCQ_0015 List of Elements file (or download the list in Excel format). For a list of members that would exclude an element from this validation rule, see the DCQ_0015 Member Exclusions file.
Proposed Rule DQC_0033 (Document Period End Date Context)
This rule would test that the date used with a report’s Document and Entity Information elements matches the ending context date for the Document Period End Date element. Note that the EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding, EntityPublicFloat, and DocumentPeriodEndDate elements would be excluded from this test.
Proposed Rule DCQ_0036 (Document Period End Date Context/Fact Value Check)
This rule would test that the date value reported for the DocumentPeriodEndDate element is within a range of no more than ±3 days of the ending date defined in the context associated with that fact.
Each of these proposed rules are open to public comment until Monday, September 14, 2015. All of the rules and the comments that have been received by the Center for Data Quality can be viewed at: http://xbrl.us/home/data-quality/public-review/.
Comments received during the 60-day public review period will be evaluated for incorporation into the final rules determined by the Center for Data Quality. Final rules will be contributed to the open source Arelle XBRL platform.
Software within the GoFiler family has the ability to connect to the Arelle XBRL platform. Many of these rules are already implemented within GoFiler’s XBRL validation tools, and others will be implemented as soon as the final rules are published by the Center for Data Quality.
Novaworks has been a member of XBRL US since 2011.
Sources:
http://xbrl.us/home/data-quality/center/
http://xbrl.us/news/xbrl-us-center-for-data-quality-announces-public-review-of-guidance-and-rules/
http://xbrl.us/home/data-quality/public-review/