The XBRL US Data Quality Committee (DQC US) has approved new validation rules to aid public companies in detecting inconsistencies and errors in their XBRL-formatted financial data. These rules identify potential problems, including incorrect negative values, improper relationships between elements, and incorrect data associated with certain data. The new rules, which are listed below, were approved after publication as a draft and with consideration of public comments.
Version 9.0.3 of the DQC (August 2019) adds the following:
- Sibling Child Relationships (DQC.US.0081): Added a new rule that identifies incorrect calculation relationships defined in the filer taxonomy.
- Element Values are Equal (DQC.US.0004): Added twelve new checks added to test that the values reported between element relationships that are identified as an accounting constant are consistent within the filing.
- Dimensional Equivalents (DQC.US.0011): Updated to include additional equivalence for treasury stock for Common Stock and Preferred Stock.
- Negative Values (DQC.US.0015): Added 217 elements from the 2019 US GAAP taxonomy that cannot contain negative values nless appropriate taxonomy-defined aspects intersect the fact.
- Inappropriate Calculation Descendant (DQC.US.0046): Updated to test if Net Income in the calculation linkbase is a descendant of OCI Elements.
- Required Calculation Parent Element in the Cash Flow Statement (DQC.US.0048): Updated to be in conformance with ASU-2016-18.
- Negative Values (IFRS Only) (DQC.IFRS.0080): Added 667 elements from the IFRS taxonomy that cannot contain negative values unless appropriate taxonomy-defined aspects intersect the fact.
- Made changes to the xule plugin to include support for use in server configurations.
This release is effective for filings after September 30th, 2019. It does not require users to update the DQC rules plugin from version 9.0.0 unless checks will be processed locally without an internet connection. Instructions for installing the plugin and facilitating its update in Arelle can be found here.
In addition, the DSC US is seeking public exposure and comment on additional proposed rules. These comments would apply to version 10 of the DQC Rules and suggest the following:
- Disaggregation of Variable Interest Elements (VIE) (DQC_0082): This rule addresses inconsistencies in filings relevant to VIE reporting, where the same facts are reported differently within a filing or across filings. The rule highlights if the filer has used one of the these VIE elements so that data can be consistently reported using the ConsolidatedEntitiesAxis.
- Consolidated Variable Interest Entities (DQC_0083): This proposed rule also addresses inconsistencies in filings relative to VIE reporting. It would highlight where a filer has used a different approach to represent the portion of the financial statements that attributable to the VIE.
- Durational Aggregation (DQC_0084): This rule addresses inconsistencies in tagging the same element from period to period. The following data quality errors would be flagged:
- Values tagged with 0 instead of being tagged with nil
- Inconsistent addition across periods
- Two-way elements tagged with the inappropriate sign
- Inappropriate element selection across periods
- Inappropriate decimals
Public comment on these rules must be received by Monday, September 16, 2019. Generally, rules are considered for approval by the DQC US within 45 days of public exposure and, once accepted, become effective 90 days of approval.
Feedback can be submitted through XBRL US’ website. An account is required to submit a review, but comments can be read without an account.
Sources:
Public Exposure of Validation Rules & Guidance (xbrl.us)
Approved Validation Rules & Guidance (xbrl.us)
Version 9.0.3 of the DQC US Rules (github.com)
