Last month, XBRL US introduced a free application program interface (API) standard as a Proposed Release. The API is designed to help programmers create, extract, and analyze XBRL formatted data. It is meant to be a standard that acts as a software intermediary, allowing applications to communicate with one another. Investors and analysts alike can use the XBRL API to gain access to and manipulate XBRL data, both historical data and data that is up-to-date. The API will work with any XBRL database or taxonomy.

On December 6th, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation released the IFRS Taxonomy 2018 – Proposed Update 2 General Improvements.

The SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) recently analyzed XBRL exhibits submitted by issuers complying with the 2009 Interactive Data rules to file financial statement information in an XBRL format. The purpose of the analysis was to determine if IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) filers were being consistent with their use of custom tags with US-GAAP (US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) filers during this first year of required XBRL filings.

The IFRS Foundation has published a proposed update to the IFRS Taxonomy 2018, Common Practice (IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement). This Proposed Update is one of multiple updates released throughout the year to reflect amendments to International Financial Reporting Standards. The updates can represent changes to common practice elements, taxonomy architecture, or annual improvements that may include refinements to taxonomy data models in order to support consistent tagging or improvements that better reflect presentation and disclosure requirements.

On October 1, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains changes to the N-CEN and N-PORT EDGAR forms as well as improvements to EDGAR XBRL validation in addition to other changes.

On August 17th, the SEC voted to approve amendments to certain disclosure requirements that have become duplicative, overlapping, or outdated. These changes were proposed in light of other disclosure requirements, modifications to US-GAAP, or developments in the information environment. The SEC is also referring to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) particular disclosure requirements that overlap with but require information incremental to GAAP. These requirements will be considered for incorporation into US GAAP.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to the XBRL reporting requirements that would require registrants to use the Inline XBRL format for the submission of financial statement information and fund risk/return summary information.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC held an open meeting in which they presented several final, approved rules and new rule proposals. Taken together, these changes represent progress toward many of the Commission’s priorities.

On May 31, 2018 the XBRL US Center for Data Quality has released the sixth set of rules to provide guidance and aid for issuers in identifying errors in their XBRL SEC filings. The Data Quality Committee rules aim to help filers limit mistakes and avoid data inconsistencies that can adversely affect analysis of reported financial information. The sixth release of rules includes guidance for issuers using either the US-GAAP or IFRS taxonomies.

XBRL US is seeking input from SEC-registered public companies as to the possibility of using XBRL for earnings announcements, either for a press release or a Form 8-K filing of an earnings announcement.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2018 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun accepting XBRL filings under the new 2018 US-GAAP Taxonomy. Four of the nine SEC-maintained XBRL taxonomies have been altered: the DEI, EXCH, RR,
and STPR taxonomies.

On April 3rd from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will host a webinar covering 2018 GAAP and SEC taxonomy improvements. During the webinar, the FASB staff will demonstrate how to apply the new modeling using example disclosures and discuss the new 2018 SEC Reporting Taxonomy.

On March 6th, the XBRL US Domain Steering Committee, approved and posted a new XBRL US reference document for a 30-day review period, the Taxonomy Approval Metrics & Process (TAM).

The CFA’s Investor Forum 2017, developed by XBRL US and held in sponsorship with CFA Institute and CFA Society New York, recently explored numerous issues applicable to the use of XBRL in the financial data analysis and reporting industries. During the conference, Michelle Savage, Vice President of Communication for XBRL US, and Scott Theis, CEO of Novaworks, LLC and Chairman of XBRL US’s Domain Steering Committee, discussed an earnings release case study that discussed how building an XBRL taxonomy to represent the data held within the release could be beneficial to the financial and investment communities.