This Week in XBRL: Reviewing the Initial XBRL Submissions

In a continued effort to educate on the development of XBRL technology in industries such as financial services (and beyond), Merrill Corporation will share articles and columns published on the topic.

This week, the SEC put out a review of the initial financial statements they received relating to the new rules on interactive data for financial reporting. Below are some excerpts from the executive summary:

Overall, the filings indicate that filers continue to devote significant effort to consider their responsibilities under this program, comply with the new rules and provide high-quality submissions.

The staff's reviews were conducted using data analysis tools to survey the entire population of filings and data points and, where appropriate, to review details of specific filings and tags on a targeted basis.

We have identified certain areas where there were common issues with the filings. As companies continue through the phase-in of the interactive data requirements, with the ongoing introduction of detailed tagging of notes to the financial statements and the phase-out of the limited liability provisions, we encourage them to prepare future filings that are consistent with the themes of our observations. 

It is our expectation that where the issues identified are related to the rules of the Commission they can be addressed by filers in their next series of interactive data filings. We believe this will help increase the overall quality of the interactive data submissions and the usability of the data.

For the full report, click here.

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